Lapis Pugna Online
by UltraQuest
Summary: Senshi Pureya, a keen gamer, finally gets his hands on FullDive technology. Keen to test it out, he goes ahead with no hesitation. After entering the world of Virtual Reality MMOs, Senshi finds himself aiming to be the best in the game, better than any other player around. The game is called...Lapis Pugna Online.
1. The World of Experience

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Drip. _Drop._ Drip. _Drop._ The rain from the cloudy sky above pelted down upon Tokyo, while its residents fled in desire of not wanting to be drenched and instead wishing to be dry. Huge crowds of people dashing up and down broad as well as narrow streets formed everywhere one could lay their eyes upon, making it difficult for those with umbrellas - people are instead patiently walking as they have no need to increase their pace - to proceed normally.

One particular seventeen year old male student from the local school; wearing a black jacket along with a grey under-shirt, purple tie, white polo-shirt, black yet tidy trousers and dark brown shoes; was dashing through the crowd that was running the opposite way he was. For some reason, this teenager seemed angered. Pushing past people and narrowly avoiding puddles for the next few minutes, the teenager stopped when he reached his home - which was down a narrow street to the left and was attached to many other houses along the same road.

Upon whipping out a key from his jacket pocket, the teenager unlocked the door and shot inside, panting as soon as he made contact with the carpet placed upon wooden floorboards. _Ugh...that was annoying. Those people certainly had no consideration for letting me through! It disgusts me how vile strangers can be..._

"Hi there, son!" a much deeper voice, similar to the teenager's own, greeted. A man in a black shirt and blue jeans stepped out from one of the many doorway in the hallway. This man looked similar to the teenager, sharing the same shade of white skin and blue eye colour, though that was where the comparisons halted. "How was school?"

"Exasperating, dad," the teenager sighed. He obviously loathed his day. "Miss Fukurumi gave us a surprise test, which you know I despise, then later on, Mr. Yasakawa gave us another one! Ridiculous."

"Oh...well, even if sometimes life gets you down, you need to keep pushing on," his father reassured with a smiling face. "That's something my father taught me."

"Didn't your father teach you a load of things?" the teenager pointed out.

The father widened his eyes in realisation, then returned back to a blissful expression. "So he did! Thanks for that one, son!"

"I keep telling you, call me Senshi. You know that's my name and you're aware that I'm more than just your son," Senshi Pureya demanded, sighing.

"Yes, I am well aware of that. I just can't seem to pull myself round to doing it," Yujin Pureya replied, thinking about his son. _I cannot believe he's already seventeen. It was his birthday last month, but I still can't get over it. What's with me?_

Senshi rid his back of the trouble of carrying his heavy bag and gave the problem to his right hand. "If you'll excuse me, I'll be heading to my room to do some studying."

"Okay...have fun!" Yujin smiled. A glint in his eyes showed that there was more to his words than Senshi could think of right now. Thinking it to be a reflection of light, Senshi retreated to his small, white-walled bedroom with only a desk with a computer on it, a closet and a one-person bed within it.

However, Senshi expected to be alone. His mother, Shurui Pureya, was sitting on his bed, next to some sort of box that was still in its packaging. Senshi could not see what the box was, but a single thought entered into his mind that speculated what the item could potentially be. Instead of wasting his time trying to guess, Shurui - whom shared facial and body structure with Senshi - initiated the question asking and answering.

"I'm betting you want to know what is in this box. Maybe you've figured it out for yourself," Shurui teased, placing one hand on the box next to her. "I tell you something, my son. It is something you've wanted for your birthday, but you never received it due to...circumstances."

His mother was always a weird woman. "I don't have any concrete ideas. Mother, what is it?" Senshi asked, playing the 'I have no clue' card.

"Don't you know? I thought that clue was going to give it away," Shurui smiled. She grabbed the box and presented it to Senshi, though she gave to him backwards as to add to the tension. Senshi accepted the box thankfully but before he could turn it over to see what it was, thoughts rang in his mind.

 _A new game? Book? DVD? A new phone? No wait, I received all those already. What could it possibly be?_ Senshi theorised. After shaking his head to reaffirm what he was about to do, the seventeen year old boy slowly turned around the rectangular box, revealing something that shocked him to the very core of his system. "Impossible..."

"You're welcome, Senshi, my son," Shurui nodded, an even larger and somehow happier smile appearing on her face. "Enjoy your AmuSphere 2.0. Also comes with a game."

"Th-thank...thank you so much, mother!" Senshi dropped the box and hugged his mother, in a boyish delight that only children usually experience. "Wow, my very own AmuSphere...I can finally experience the world of online virtual realities for myself! Especially after everything Hitake has been saying about it. It's somewhat of the only topic he speaks about at school, he's absolutely dazzled by the technology!"

Shurui giggled. She too had a child within her. "I've been hearing constant good things about it on social media. Let's just say that Hitake's mother gets the worst of it..." Senshi and his mother shared a hearty laugh together, then the attention was put back on the AmuSphere device. "Why don't you go set it up? I'll be here to help you if need be."

"Thanks, mother." Senshi ripped open the box and took out all the components relating to the device, along with a Japanese instruction manual and the box for the free game. Placing everything on the bed, Senshi studied the manual closely and followed each order, placing plugs, connecting cables and inputting wires into wherever it needed to go. Sometimes, the instructions' steps did not follow through quite well enough, but eventually, the AmuSphere was set up. Luckily there was a dual plug socket next to the bed, so the wires did not have to stretch out too far.

Staring down upon it, Senshi was filled with excitement. _Finally, a new realm to explore...the advanced step in computer gaming! I've missed out on this for six years, and six years too soon! Well, four years, I should say. I should not forget the controversy involving that Sword Art Online game...hopefully whatever game I'm going to join doesn't have that same problem._

"It looks like you're all set up," Shurui stated. "Are you ready to hop in and give it a test run?"

Senshi nodded. "Any day." His mother returned his determined gaze, then smiled.

"Good! I hope you do well, my son!" Senshi decided not to answer his mother with words, but with another chance to look at that determined grin before he moved everything but the AmuSphere off of his bed and layed down upon it, on top of the covers and all. He then carefully placed the device over his head, it covering his eyes. When he was ready to enter, Senshi realised he had forgotten something.

"Uh...I forgot the game."

Shurui wanted to fall to the floor in how much of an error this was, but decided not to. She simply walked over to the desk in which the game box had been placed on, opened it up and took out the small cartridge from within. As per Senshi's instructions, Shurui then placed the cartridge inside the slot and looked for an on button, though no such thing existed. This prompted Senshi to raise a finger to get the woman's attention.

"There is no on button. The AmuSphere and other FullDive-related technologies are activated with a simple voice command. It is..." Senshi stated, lowering his arm and shifting himself so that he was comfortable. "Link start!"

 _9:21 AM - Ingame Time_

 _Lapis Pugna Online_

Multiple streaks of colour flashed ahead of Senshi; he was in some kind of white realm, where the light streaks flew right past him and even behind him. Eventually, more and more of these streaks appeared, giving the illusion that Senshi was moving forward, when he likely was not. At one point, the world flashed and everything turned black. Utter darkness filled the world in which Senshi was in. Then, after some seconds, text appeared in front of him that spelled:

 _Welcome to Lapis Pugna Online!_

 _It seems you have not created an avatar. Now running the avatar creation program._

Suddenly, the text changed to a screen that had many different boxes upon the two sides. At the bottom right of the screen was the 'done' button and in the middle of the screen was a reflection of Senshi himself, mirroring every raised eyebrow and widened eye sockets that he made. It even copied small details, such as which direction his black hair curved in and was active, meaning that whenever he moved a single muscle, the reflection did the same without any lag whatsoever.

 _So this must be where I create my character, then..._ Senshi deduced. He played around with changing his hair colour, shirt colour, trouser colour, skin colour, eye colour and more for several minutes, until he set on a look he liked: black hair just like his, but parted on the forehead; a dark blue shirt that parted down the middle, revealing a white shirt at the top where the buttons on the first shirt were undone; dark purple jeans with a zip in the crotch area and two pockets at the top of his legs; same skin colour as his real self and a bright yellow eye colour to juxtapose with his clothing choices.

"Done," he spoke clearly. The screen changed to that of a mere text box, with the text above it reading: ' _What is your avatar's name?_ '

Senshi thought hard about this one. Since his real name was not going to be used, there were plenty of choices for a name. _I could go for something deep and meaningful, or for something weird and wacky. Hmm...I remember Hitake naming his avatar Hitakaru, a combination of his first and last names. Apparently it's a common practice with Japanese VRMMO players, which I can understand. Maybe I should do that, considering I'll be here for hours if I don't figure out something quickly. Let's see..._ he thought, looking for a plausible means to combine 'Senshi' and 'Pureya'. It did not take long for him to figure one out, however. "My avatar's name is Senya."

He watched as the name 'Senya' was typed out into the text-box, letter by letter. When the game asked him to confirm the name, Senshi nodded and was taken through another light-based sequence as before, which he guessed was a kind of loading screen. _Hopefully,_ he hoped. _This doesn't take too long._

 _9:30 AM - Ingame Time_

 _Lapis Pugna Online, Reperio Island_

It was not an extraordinary amount of time until the moment when Senya was first born into the world of Lapis Pugna Online. When he appeared in the world, he found himself narrowly dodging sword swings, shield bashes, arrows and magical strikes - Senya was only able to dodge these out of pure instincts and because they were being fired from so far away, their speed decreased heavily by the time they got to him.

 _Movement feels really fluid and intuitive...I'm hoping I get rescued or something,_ Senya thought, evading a slowed fire blast spell. As Senya was busy dodging all these attacks, a warrior from his left side had noticed the strange person in the midst of their battlefield and was programmed to do something about it.

"Hey, you! Get out of there!" the warrior NPC called from over the wall. "Follow the sound of my voice, you fool, and get over here!"

Senya had no idea what was going on, but he went with it. He did as the non-player character told him, making it past the battle and into the miniature fortress that had been built by the designers of the game. Once inside, the NPC was ready to deliver his scripted sequence.

"How dare you waltz in the middle of the battlefield?!" the warrior barked. Senya looked up and found a nametag above the NPC, stating that this character's name was Epon the Fighter and Level 110. His experience from playing previous role-playing games told him that this person was not to be messed with. "You look like a rookie. I can smell it."

"Can you?" Senya asked the NPC, knowing that he was going to get a response thousands of other players did. _I wonder if my smell from real life stems into here...I probably actually do smell rather poorly._

"Yes I can! It smells eerily like old cheese...or maybe that's me," Epon the Fighter answered. "Anyway, it'd be best if you headed into the village behind us and talk to the tutor. He can teach you everything you need to know about this world. Any questions?"

"No, sir," Senya quickly responded, not wanting to waste time. It was almost like a speed-run for him. Unfortunately, no quick saving or loading for him, something he lamented over. "Your orders have been received."

"Good! Then head out to the village immediately!" Epon finished, walking away.

This left Senya to wander up the fortress' ground floor, until he found a door that led south, away from the fight. He kept walking forwards, past tress and blooming flowers. He even found his nose stimulating at the fresh smell of the flowers. _FullDive technology really is amazing...it covers all of your senses. Graphics are nice too, it's like an anime show or something along the lines of that._

Senya proceeded on, following the dirt path until he reached a collection of wooden buildings with yellow tent-like roofs. He wandered around and immediately started talking to the first NPC he could see. "Hi there, do you know where I can find the tutor?" he asked.

"Two buildings down and on your right," the NPC answered, walking away without saying anything else, as expected. Senshi followed the NPC's directions to a building that looked like any other. Walking in however, would yield surprising results.

 _9:39 AM - Ingame Time_

 _Lapis Pugna Online, Reperio Island, Tutor's House_

As soon as Senya's virtual body was fully inside the wooden structure, the door slammed shut and would not open for another soul. He noticed that some kind of pink glow was surrounding the door, further adding to the mystery.

 _What is this? Some kind of barrier that prevents me from going outside once I reach a trigger point? That...makes sense. This probably makes sure the game doesn't glitch, or that players find an exploit that allows them to skip the tutorial,_ Senya analysed, turning to have his back facing the door. _Now to find the trigger to open it._

Taking some more steps, Senya found a strange elder in the middle of the well-lit room, whom wasn't wearing any kind of armour but was instead had the appearance of a wizard, blue costume and everything. When Senya stood in front of him, a conversation began and as expected, the elder had a dry, raspy voice, typical of old men.

"You are new to this world. All new warriors come to me when they are in need of directions, you must be the same," the elder NPC stated, staring straight at Senya. "I will teach you the basics of this world. Are you listening?"

Senya nodded. "Yes, I am," he answered with a straight face.

"Perfect. Then, I will begin," the Tutor started. "First of all, you have many skills to work towards, a grand total of fourteen: Unarmed, which is your striking power with your bare fists and related weaponry; Swordplay is your ability with swords and it is through this skill where you can obtain Sword Techniques, which will be explained at a later date."

Senya stood there, absorbing the information like a sponge of knowledge.

"Defence is how much damage you can take; Strength is how much damage you can deal; Magic is everything related to spells, how much damage you can do with them. You learn spells by levelling up this skill; Ranged is the same thing as Magic, but with everything relating to bows and arrows; Speed is how fast you can move," the Tutor continued.

Although it was a long process, it was necessary, which was something Senya knew.

"Creating is your ability to make items; Cooking is how well you can cook uncooked food items; Mining is your ability to obtain ores from certain stones; Health Points is how much health you have because right now, you only have 20 Health Points and while that might seem to be a lot, it is not; Farming is your ability to look after crops and such things; Buff is extra powers that you can apply to yourself to make you stronger; Dungeon Crawling is something that you will only be able to achieve at a higher level and will be explained to you then," the Tutor finished. "Do you need me to explain all that again?"

"No, that's alright. I understand," Senya replied. He felt strange as he was standing in the nearly empty room, talking to the strange old man. _By now, my back would have started aching - that's the beauty of virtual reality._

The Tutor waited until Senya was paying attention, then began speaking some more. "I will now coach you in the ways of combat. Take this sword," he instructed. Senya did as he was told, taking the Wooden Sword. "Now, slash it around to get a good feel for combat movement. Do whatever comes natural to you and when you are ready to move on, talk to me again."

Senya took the advice to heart, then stepped away from the Tutor to practice sword swinging. Performing a vertical slash, he was impressed with the sensory technology at hand. _This feels so good, like if I were to do this in real life, I'd barely be able to tell the difference_ , he commented inside his mind. Another slash, this time horizontal and followed up by a second sideways slash, though it was in the opposite direction. _Realistic. If what the Tutor here says is true, then I won't need much practice, because every move I'll make will come from my subconscious. It's not like I'll need to go through an entire military-styled training regiment, but I suppose it'd help to actually practice, to get used to how this all works._

Gripping his sword as to not have it accidentally fly out of his grip, Senya began to slash the Wooden Sword in a flurry of different directions, covering almost every single angle in the process. After he was content with his moves, he approached the Tutor once more. "It seems you are fine with sword usage," the NPC noticed. Purple magical energy glowed from his fingertips, which then flew to the space in front of Senya which span around while ascending, forming some kind of humanoid figure. "Let us put that to the test."

Once the green-skinned Goblin was formed with the Tutor's magic, the energy dissipated and the Goblin began charging forwards, attacking with a vertical lunge with its axe in hand. Out of utter shock, Senya simply stood there, unable to move until he had been hit, where he noticed that the red bar in the top right corner of his heads up display had lowered slightly and the health reading now read '16/20'.

 _I've enough health to be risky, but I don't wish to lose too much,_ Senya planned, stepping backwards. _This is not like any other game where I can just press a button, or click, to combat an enemy. This is virtual reality, so I have to do so with my own two hands. I am not to be bested by a mere Goblin!_

He leapt forwards, stabbing with as much force as he could push in. Once the attack hit, Senya pulled the sword out of the Goblin and noticed that it would have been a mortal wound, though the health bar above the Goblin had only been lowered slightly and the text above the bar confirmed that not much damage had been done, it reading '15/20'. Senya realised that this was going somewhere, then used three more stabs to hopefully take the enemy out but on the third attempt, the Goblin moved to the side and slashed at Senya's arm, reducing his health to 13 out of 20.

"This Goblin...will not get in my way!" Senya barked, enraged somewhat. He used the adrenaline from his rage to leap in for another slash, taking out the rest of the Goblin's life, leading it to form into tiny fragments and disappear from the game altogether. _Certainly, that was exhausting. I suppose I'll get used to it._

"Excellent work," the Tutor commented, using his magic to heal Senya's lowered health points. Senya returned to the non-player character, ready to receive his next instruction. "You can keep that Wooden Sword. Now, you will be using a staff."

Another Goblin was spawned in the same fashion as the one previously, with the same health points, weapon and stats. Senya was given a white-coloured staff, called an Air Staff, to fight with. Immediately locking eyes with the Goblin, Senya was sure to not do as terrible as he did earlier, so he began waving the staff around with nothing coming out of it, hoping that something would happen.

 _No spells are coming out...do I have to do something specific?_ Senya wondered, doing his best to shoot out a single spell while dodging the Goblin's attacks. _Maybe if I..._ Senya stood perfectly still and stood the Air Staff up, then tried to charge energy within the staff. It appeared to have done something, because white energy was forming at the tip of the staff, eventually firing at the Goblin. It only did three damage, bringing the Goblin's health down to 17/20, though it randomly was knocked back into the wall, dealing a further two damage. _Wow. Didn't expect that_. Senya repeated this multiple times, not allowing the Goblin any time to get back up and try anything else, leading to its quick death.

"You must have the hang of this now. Remember that different elements of magic have separate effects," the Tutor remarked, having analysed Senya's learning patterns. As the boy turned to face him, the Tutor began stroking his elongated white beard as he was in deep thought. Out of nowhere, a longbow and a quiver filled with twenty Wooden Arrows was equipped to Senya, confusing the teenager. "Now for the final piece of combat training. Use the longbow to defeat a third Goblin, then report back to me."

Like a broken record, another Goblin with the same stats and weapons as all of the previous ones had appeared in front of Senya. He readied his longbow after much fumbling around, trying to figure out how to properly hold and use it while again evading the Goblin's attempts on his life. Senya eventually held the middle part of the longbow and used his other hand to ready an arrow. After getting a good aim, Senya fired, shooting the Goblin right in the chest, chipping away a measly four HP to lower it to 16/20.

 _Bows seem to be as effective as magic, if not more. I like them, but I still prefer swords. I'll probably end up using them in the real game,_ Senya planned, overestimating his agility. _I've always had a preference for blades, though this game makes magic interesting to use with the different effects feature. Who knows, I may end up using magic sometime._ Senya continued to shoot the Goblin until it was downed, again returning to the Tutor.

"You have completed your combat training. Well done," the Tutor declared. His expression had not changed since the moment Senya walked in, so it was difficult to tell if he was being sincere or if he was reading his script. "Usually when you defeat an enemy, you would gain experience and the blue bar below your magic bar would grow in size. However, my magic has made it so you do not gain any benefits from combat, including drops as well as experience. When you level up, you get five points to spend on improving any stats of your choice. As of now, all of your stats are at zero, so you have complete freedom as to any particular stats you wish to better."

"Is there a defined level cap?" Senya asked, curious. _Most MMORPGs have a level cap so that their players don't become too overpowered. I know that Epon guy was Level 110 and the cap can't be that - it would be unorthodox._

What completely shocked and distracted Senya's train of thought was the Tutor's answer. "No."

"R-really?!" Senya rhetorically questioned. "There's no limit? Wouldn't that mean that some players are overpowered? Why would they continue to play the game if there's no challenge?"

"I am not sure, but what I do know is that the higher a level you are, the more quests that open up," the Tutor explained. "And because there is no level limit, that means that there is no quest limit, either. Perhaps that is why warriors keep returning to this world - to see how many quests they can complete."

 _Wow...no quest or level cap. How's that even possible? I'll have to look that up when I get out of here,_ Senya thought. He was bewildered by what had been said. "Is this the end of the tutorial, then?"

"Yes, it is," the Tutor answered. "I will now teleport you to the world of Lapis Pugna. Out there, you can do what you please and be the person you desire to be. Do try not to be disruptive to other players and please read the rules. When you get teleported, you will receive some starting equipment to help you start up without any trouble."

"Thanks," Senya thanked. Even though he knew there was a script for all NPCs, he could not help but be affected by the Tutor's actions. "Where will I be sent to?"

"The town that every new warrior starts in - Incipien. It has enough for starting adventurers," the Tutor further explained. He began charging white magic energy this time, which began to engulf the player that he was staring at. "Goodbye, Senya."

Smiling, Senya was warped into the world of Lapis Pugna, where he would begin to play the game for real. Many quests and experiences lay ahead for him - it all started from now on.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_ **So this is what I was going to upload on the first of August, but it took to long to write and yesterday, the second, my PC was being used by another member of my family, so I couldn't use it. Here's the finished product: my first Sword Art Online fan-fiction! Hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **Also, future chapters won't be as long as this one. Trust me, I don't want this to be too long, I've already got a large series in the form of Luster the Cat, which you should definitely check out if you're a Sonic fan. Hooray for shameless plugs! See you all next time.**


	2. Humble Beginnings

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

With a placement of feet in an un-organised yet devised order, a virtual avatar representing one of the thousands of players of Lapis Pugna Online ambled his way through down the stone-paved road, occasionally fixating his gaze at the brick and wood walled structures as they passed along his line of sight. This avatar was looking for something, that was clear in his eyes; however, it was also clear that he was unaware of where he was currently moving towards. In other words, he was lost.

 _Where do I go? I was told that there were quests I could do, though I have no way of knowing where any of them are,_ Senya thought. His legs and mental state were both tired after wandering down the road for an extended period of time, his eyes then locking on an empty bench that leaned on a wall to some random building. _I'll sit down and get my bearings. Then I can plan out what I am to do next._

Desperately needing to sit down, Senya stepped over to the bench and parked his backside upon the cold, comforting feel of the wooden construct. He looked towards the left section of his view, seeing some bars and numbers, tugging on his string of interest. _This must be my heads-up display. Let's see..._ Senya stared at the red bar on the top left, discovering that above it had a formation of letters that were rearranged to spell 'Health' and at the very end of the meter was a percentage of sorts - a numerical reading of his current level of health, which was currently at '10/10'. Below the 'Health' bar, Senya also located a blue bar that was labelled 'Magic' along with another numerical reading that was also at '10/10', and a third, green bar that was named 'Technique' with a reading that was instead '5/5'. Underneath the Skill Meter was a yellow bar that was called 'Buff', also reading 5/5. Finally, below that was a bag of gold, which Senya assumed to be a kind of money counter, that read '100' next to it.

 _My health is disturbingly low...I suppose it makes sense for a player that is just starting out, like me,_ Senya noted, thinking to himself. He took a nice, long glance at the town around him and began to focus on that. _This really does look like it was taken out of some anime. Even the avatars' designs look like it, which is something that I can live with. Anyway, it would be best if I were to venture out to locate quests, because that seems like it will be my main point of focus from now on...how am I to do that without any gear? Wait, didn't the Tutor tell me that I would receive starting equipment? I'll check my inventory..._

Senya began to pat himself down, checking his virtual body for any weapons, items or anything. Eventually, he managed to locate his wooden sword that was in its sheath, his bow that was attached to his back and his staff that was also on his back, behind the bow. He fumbled around until he located his pockets, where he could find: one-hundred gold pieces, an axe, a pickaxe, a tinderbox, ten Flame Runes, ten Earth Runes, ten Electric Runes and ten Aqua Runes. Senya only knew what the last four items were thanks to an 'Inspect' option that appeared whenever the objects were tapped.

 _Curious. I may not have a use for these things now, but at least I have them for a later date, when they may be most needed,_ he planned. Senya got up, surveying his surroundings before deciding on a plan of action. _Now to look for a quest._ Senya began walking down the path he had been on previously, until the road forward was no more, where he was forced to turn a corner and continue his search. Several in-game minutes passed until Senya spotted a quest marker on his mini-map in the bottom right corner of his field of view, which was marked with a blue cross. He strolled over to the marker, finding a shop owner in distress.

"Hi there, can I help you?" the shop keeper NPC asked as per its programming.

"You can't help me, but I can help you," Senya replied with a smile. "You look like you're dismayed."

"Oh boy...I am. Last night, some thief broke into my store and stole some of my stock! I can't run my shop effectively without it; can you help me get it back?" the shop owner explained, pleading for help. "I'd get it myself, but I'm no warrior."

"I accept," Senya answered. "Do you know where the thief is now?"

"Not exactly. All of what I know about them is conjecture, information gathered from other people that claimed to have seen them," the NPC informed. "I hear that there are two of them, they're bandits and they're in a field outside of Incipien. Are you strong enough to take them on?"

"Yes," lied Senya. In reality, he had no idea how strong the bandits were and he did not even know what level he was. _What are the death consequences in this? I assume I lose my items, as per the standard for regular MMOs, but Lapis Pugna has been somewhat original so far. The penalties may be much worse._ Senya said his goodbyes to the NPC and used directions from other NPCs to reach a road that extended across a lush green countryside. This is where his first quest would begin.

 _10:01 - In-game Time_

 _Lapis Pugna Online, Outside Incipien_

Placing his feet onto the dirt path that extended into pure nature, Senya began to follow the path, taking in his surroundings. Everything was beautiful - the air was warm, not too hot and not too cold, the grass was a perfect shade of green, birds were chirping with crisp, clear audio and the sun was shining down on the area like a gigantic lightbulb. It all stimulated the senses, something that Senya appreciated.

Snapping back into reality, Senya started looking in both of the fields beside him for any sign of bandits. Nothing, until he passed two street lamps, when he saw a carridge being driven away from Incipien. _That has to be worth checking out, it could be the bandits. I do see something in the back of the carridge...that must be the stock. Let's go complete this quest!_ Senya began to dash forward, running much faster than his real life self ever could. It only took nearly a minute to reach the carridge, where Senya got the attention of the two inside, leading to them exiting the vehicle to deal with the player.

"Hey look, a kid! He's not strong at all!" the first bandit NPC taunted. "What do ya want?"

"You seem to be the type to steal. Tell me, did you?" Senya asked, folding his arms and grinning, attempting to intimidate the duo. "Because if you have, I'll have to beat you down. For good."

The same bandit laughed. Clearly, he was not in fear. "Ha! Good joke kid, but you're too weak to kill us!" This bandit equipped an axe, then lunged at Senya - an attack that was slow enough for the player to evade. Above the bandit, a green bar appeared with a numerical reading of 11/11 and furthermore, a second one appeared above the second bandit that instead had a reading of 13/13.

Senya was at first, confident. However, that was all washed away when he noticed their levels above their health bars - the first bandit's level was two, while the second one's was three. _Damn. I wish I knew what level I was, but I have a strong feeling I'm not either of those and if that's the case, I'm gonna have some trouble here. If I die here...that could come back to bite me later on, socially. That means I'll have to be cautious - so taking on that level three bandit is out of the question right now. I'll focus on that weaker one for now,_ Senya planned, unsheating his wooden sword. The fight had begun.

Senya was struck with an axe swing, reducing his health down to 8/10. _Four more hits like that and it's all over...I need to be faster!_ As the weaker bandit was going in for a third downwards axe slash, Senya dodged the oncoming attack and slashed at the bandit, bringing it down to 10/11. Senya then evaded another attack and abused the recoil time to get in a second hit, beginning to repeat this process until the bandit was down to 5/11, where the artificial intelligence became wise and elbowed Senya away, rolling him down the field as a prime target for another axe-related attack. This combo brough Senya down to a dangerous 3/10.

 _I can't be reckless...I won't die here! If the A.I can adapt, I can too!_ Senya thought to himself, pumping his senses with tons upon tons of adrenaline. When it got to a fever point, Senya dashed at the bandit and managed to perform dual slashes on him before he had to dodge an axe swing where he could then attack a further two more times, reducing the level two bandit's attack to zero.

As the bandit smashed into many virtual pieces, a screen appeared in front of Senya, which read: ' _Congratulations! Your level has increased to 2! Spend your five points on the skills below._ ' Underneath the text was a list of all the skills in the game, Swordplay being at the top of the first column and Cooking at the top of the second. The third bandit was frozen in time, to make sure Senya would not be killed prematurely.

 _So I was at level one; that explains a lot,_ Senya realised, staring sharply at the list of skills. He noticed that there was a symbol on each side of the skills' icons, one that likely increased the stat and the other vice versa. _Considering I'm still at a low level compared to this other guy here, I better put my points into attack-related skills. I think..._

Senya added three points to his Swordplay skill, then the remaining two into Strength. Once he confirmed his point additions, he received a notification that read: ' _Congratulations! You have learnt a new Sword Technique: Quick Cutter. Use it to inflict quick damage on a single foe! Drains one point of Technique._ ' When he dismissed that notification, another one appeared: ' _To use a Sword Technique, speak the technique's name clearly while gripping tightly onto your weapon._ ' Senya dismissed this second notification, returning to the fight.

He stared down the remaining bandit, determined to take it down without letting his health drop to nothing. _I'll beat this quest! No bandit's going to stop me!_ Senya held his sword back, gripping it hard, remembering the instructions the game had given him. "Quick Cutter!" He yelled, slashing the bandit once at a speed so incredible that the bandit could barely pick up Senya's movements. The bandit's health was now at 9/13, meaning that four total damage had been dealt with one Sword Technique.

 _Impressive_ , Senya commented, noticing the confusion on the bandit's face. He noticed that his green Technique meter had decreased in size slightly, as did the fraction beside it, now reading 4/5. _So I have only four more uses of Quick Cutter. If I dealt four just now, that should equate to a total of sixteen damage I can deal. I've won thi-_

Senya was not expecting a speedy axe slash to meet his gut, forcing him back a few ways. His health was now at 1/10, noted by how he could barely stand back up. Fortunately, Senya could gather up enough of his energy to grip his wooden sword once again. _I hate to do this, but it's my only option. I can't afford to take another hit!_ Senya used Quick Cutter again with the same activation method, repeating this process multiple times until the had successfully defeated the level three bandit.

The level three swordsman unsheathed his blade, knowing that no more fighting was needed. He turned around to face the carridge, his eyes dead-set on the single crate inside. _It appears like I will have to take that all the way back to that shop..._ Senya sighed, jumping into the back of the carridge, picking up the crate once inside. It was not too heavy, as Senya noticed. _Perhaps my increased Strength is doing this, or maybe not much was stolen in the first place. I digress._ Senya immediately headed back into the town, exhausted after everything that had been done.

 _10:43 AM - In-game Time_

 _Lapis Pugna Online, Incipien Town_

Having returned to Incipien, Senya lugged the crate back to the shop in which the quest had already been accepted from. Along the way, he had obtained strange looks from a small minority of the other players, though others that had already completed the quest knew what was going on. Once he returned to the shop with the crate in hand, the NPC was pleased to see that the work had been finished.

"Ah, thank you very much! Here is your reward," the shop keeper thanked. Instead of handing over the reward physically, a notification appeared in front of Senya, stating: ' _Congratulations! You have completed the Stolen Stock quest! Rewards - 400 gold pieces.'_

"I'm glad to have helped," Senya replied. He checked his inventory, finding that the gold had been transferred to his possession electronically. _I'm starting to get tired...the in-game clock says it is 10:43, though that is likely an American time. It must be around six in Tokyo, so I better log out._ Senya used some fancy fingerwork to make the menu appear, where he scrolled down to the 'Log Out' button and clicked it, returning to the real world. _I will never forget these experiences. Virtual reality is incredibly real, I now finally realise what Hitake was talking about. Tomorrow's going to be a great day._

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_ **Chapter 2 of my first ever Sword Art Online fan-fiction comes to a close! Hope you guys enjoyed this one! Future chapters should be around this length, by the way. See you all next time!**


	3. Tension Rises

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Waking up from his deep slumber, Senshi Pureya removed the AmuSphere device from his head and placed it next to his body, which had been wrapped in a large white blanket by an unknown source. _I'm back..._ he thought, removing the blanket from his frontal body and planting his feet firmly on the ground, with his spine reacting accordingly. _Such a thrilling experience...I can barely tell if what I'm feeling right now is real!_

Senshi hardened both of his open palms, of which he was inspecting, into fists. He could feel the strain from the action, confirming his logical thoughts. _Okay, it's definitely real; the log-out button works._ As Senshi was thinking about what to do next, an older man had wandered in, sharply changing his expression to one of delight once he saw Senshi.

"Ah, good to see you again, son!" Yujin Pureya greeted, with a smile on his face. "How was the game?"

"It was great! I'm surprised that such a thing can even exist..." Senshi answered, returning his father's gaze. "I'm so glad you guys got it for me."

Yujin chuckled slightly. "I'm happy you enjoy it, son. That thing costed an awful lot, but it seems like it was worth the purchase, huh?"

"Yeah, it was," Senshi nodded, smiling.

Not another word was spoken for several seconds, until Yujin had remembered something. "Oh by the way, your mother made food for you while you were gone. It's a little cold, though."

Senshi shook his head. "No, that's fine. Thanks!" After thanking his father for sharing the vital information, Senshi immediately headed for the dining room table, eating the food that was on his plate in an orderly fashion. Senshi was never one to rush his eating, not even when he needed to be somewhere else.

Time continued to pass in the real world, phasing through the night and into the early depths of the morning.

 _7:20 AM - Real World Time_

 _South-West Tokyo, Pureya Family House_

Once the sun arose, breaking the blanket of the night's sky with its beautiful radiance, Senshi awoke with a hefty yawn. He gradually pulled himself out of his bed using his will alone - his body not wanting to move as it had not fully awoken itself yet - to raise himself from his lowered sleeping position to a sitting one. Looking to the wall on his right, he noticed that time was on his side.

 _Yes! I have enough time to get to school...heh, can't wait for today! Sure hope Mathematics doesn't drag on for too long again..._ Senshi hoped, stretching his arm muscles to get said body parts to wake up. Now that his will overrided his desire to sleep for any longer, Senshi removed his pyjamas and quickly equipped himself with his formal school attire; a black jacket along with a grey undershirt, purple tie, white poloshirt and black yet tidy trousers. His shoes were in another room, but Senshi decided to obtain those after breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, when Senshi had reached the kitchen to dine upon a fine selection of foods, he found nothing. Nothing usual, that is. Usually at this time of the morning, his parents would be awake, talking about something regarding their personal interests or recent events - though today, things were different. It was silent.

Eerily silent.

"Huh. I wonder where mother and father have gotten to..." Senshi accidentally spoke aloud. One of his bad habits that he never seemed to be able to remove from his unconscious mind. It was not until he dipped his head towards the kitchen table when his fears subsided. A note, written with neat handwriting, was placed upon the table. _Firm...well written and punctuated...mother wrote this. Let's read what it says..._

Senshi coughed, then began to read out the note that would likely reaffirm him of his current social standing. " _Dear Senshi, your father and I have just gone to get some groceries. We figured we won't be back by the time you leave for school, so don't fret my dear. Have a delightful time at school! From, your mother,_ " the Japanese student read out in his usual, calm tone of voice. "I suppose that's one mystery solved...now to play the waiting game."

With a short, inaudible sigh of relief, Senshi searched around the double floored abode. Upon the second floor was merely an attic, which the Pureya family used to store anything that would not fit in the ground floor. Senshi was tempted to go up there to simply look around, but he managed to fight off his curiosity. Now bored, the student decided to sit down in his main sitting room and began to watch television, quickly flicking over to the news channel, where a man in a suit was talking about recent events that occurred only yesterday.

 _Nothing notable. No matter, I guess I'll just be informed of trivial things. Better than being bored, anyone will agree,_ Senshi commented to himself, allowing time to pass. When the clock on the back wall ticked to 8:00 AM, Senshi turned off the television and found his shoes, quickly putting them on. _I don't want to be late. Hopefully traffic isn't too bad this morning..._ With bated breath, Senshi stepped out of the front door, returning to regular breathing cycles when he discovered that traffic on both the roads and streets were fairly light, meaning that he could easily get to school on time.

Luckily, that is just what Senshi Pureya managed to do.

 _8:30 AM - Real World Time_

 _South-Western Tokyo, South-Western Tokyo High_

Upon stepping onto his local school grounds, Senshi made sure his bag was attached to his back firmly, then increased his pace. It wasn't long before Senshi arrived indoors and with only ten minutes to spare until the school day officially started. Deciding to use this time wisely, the black-haired and blue-eyed seventeen year old darted straight to the lockers, searching for something in particular.

However, something seemed to find _him_. A male of similar height and build (both average), with orange hair and exactly the same uniform came running up towards Senshi, though neither party seemed to mind. In fact, it was almost like it was a traditional meeting.

"Hey there, Senshi! How ya been?" the orange-haired accomplice of Senshi's asked, happy to see his friend again.

Senshi grinned, appreciating the outward happiness of his comrade. "I've been fine, Hitake. Almost perfect, I would say," He replied.

"Awesome! Hey, I just got to level twenty in Lapis Pugna! I put all my skill points into defence, 'cause I've got enough skills and you know how much of a melee attacker I wanna be, so I thought I might as well put all 'em into Defence 'cause you know, it makes the most sense, right?" the orange-haired person, revealed to be Hitake Daru, explained with a fiery passion in his tone. "Doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it would. If you want to have an attacker that isn't much of a glass cannon, then increasing your defence level would be the most logical step to take," Senshi theorised. "Of course, you'll have to sacrifice the added attacking power from increasing your Strength."

"Hey...you've never talked this in-depth about Lapis Pugna before...have you started playing it?! Do you finally have an AmuSphere?!" Hitake pieced together, with a shocked expression gathering on his face.

"...You got me there. I only got an AmuSphere last night, with a copy of Lapis Pugna Online to go along with it," admitted Senshi.

Hitake grabbed Senshi's shoulders, beginning to shout in his friend's face like a crazed citizen. "Really?! That's awesome! You gotta give me details, man! What level are you? How many quests have you done? What are your stats like? Come on, tell me!" Hitake demanded.

"Alright alright, calm down Hitake," Senshi pleaded, pushing himself away from Hitake's grasp. "I'm only level two, I've done just one quest and if I remember correctly, my Technique is at level three and my Strength is at two. As I said, I only started last night."

"Ah man, you really need to play it more. Tell you what, tonight, I'll help you out a little. Give you a few good experience farming locations for early game players, maybe give you some gold if I feel like it," Hitake offered, smiling. "How about that?"

"You'd do that?" Senshi asked, full of disbelief. Then again, he knew he should not be so surprised, as...

"Of course! Anything for a good friend like you," Hitake returned, offering a high-five. His fellow seventeen year old friend accepted the gesture, prolonging the high five to savour the moment of friendship. Right afterwards, the school bell rang, signalling the official start of the school day. Senshi and Hitake looked at each other for a moment after hearing the bell, nodded, then went their separate ways.

However, a rather tall and thin person with black hair and a smaller, pudgier friend beside him were both observing the two, grinning once they heard a particular three-word name.

 _10:42 AM - Real World Time_

 _South-Western Tokyo High_

Two hours had passed, the time it took for two whole lessons to go by. Senshi and Hitake were not the same classes as each other, but they still found time to share their comradery at break and lunch times. Fortunately, after the first two lessons of the day, breaktime had arrived. Senshi met Hitake outside of his History lesson with Ms. Inoiki, where the two began to wander the school grounds, talking to each other about the wonder that is virtual reality massively multiplayer online roleplaying games.

"So how did it feel? The first time entering the virtual reality dimension, I mean," Hitake asked, walking on the right of Senshi. "First time I played Lapis Pugna, it felt so weird. I thought I was gonna get killed in the tutorial!"

"It definitely took some getting used to. At first I was wondering if I was merely dreaming, but it felt too much like reality. Is virtual reality really any different from actual reality? They feel so similar," Senshi commented, lowering his grin.

"I've heard it directly affects the human brain. Not in negative ways, but apparently the senses in the brain are altered somehow. Just be glad it's not another Sword Art Online incident," Hitake smiled at that last remark.

"That's what I thought. What even happened with that game? I wasn't quite following the virtual reality scene when that happened," Senshi asked, curious. "All I know is that people were trapped in the game, their log-out buttons had been taken away and that a large amount of people died from it. What was going on?"

"I read a blog post online that was written by an ex-player of that game. They said that the game's creator purposely took out the log-out feature and made it so that if your health dropped to zero in the game, you would die in real life. Sounds awful."

"Then how did people manage to get out of it?"

Hitake paused for a moment, as if he was trying to remember the answer to Senshi's question. "I think they said the game was fairly linear. All you had to do in order to beat it was to clear all one hundred floors, then everyone would be free. However, apparently some guy managed to beat the game much earlier than that, in Floor 75."

"Huh? Really? Who could have done that?"

Another pause. "I think the girl who wrote the blog said that the guy's in-game name was Kirito. That's all she knew about him. Heck, he's probably playing some other game right now. In fact, I think I heard that he was seen on a game called Gun Gale Online, where he won some kind of tournament and was also seen on Alfheim Online. Quite the game-hopper, huh?"

"Hmm," Senshi simply responded. "If some guy can beat the game earlier than intended, then I should be able to do the same sort of thing. Is Lapis Pugna as linear as Sword Art Online was?"

"No way. Lapis Pugna has no floors - you just play to be the best."

Senshi brought back his grin. "Then that's what I'll do," he said with a hint of determination in his voice.

"Riiiight...how are you going to do that, exactly?" a strange voice, unfamiliar to Senshi yet very familiar to Hitake, taunted. It approached from behind the duo.

"I'll just level up and become as familiar with the mechanics of the game as much as I can," Senshi replied, keeping his determined outlook. "What's it to you, uh...?"

"Do you not remember my name? You should really have it ingrained in yourself by now...it's Tecki," Tecki Repero re-informed, smiling menacingly.

"And I'm Anchi Mitsuki," the shorter, fatter person next to Tecki, added. "Don't forget our names. We don't like to remind you weaker people."

"Okay...good for you. But you two should know that I really don't care," Senshi barked, becoming annoyed.

Hitake tried to pull Senshi back, but he remained stable, not to move for anybody.

"You're pushing your luck, Senshi," Tecki tempted. "I'll beat you down here and now, no matter what the teachers might do."

"And why would you even think of doing that?" Senshi asked, still unfazed.

"Because you're infuriating," responded Tecki, who was now frowning to show his distaste. As Tecki inched closer and closer towards Senshi, Hitake showed signs of nervousness upon his face. He was seriously considering the possbility of his best friend being beaten almost to death because he pissed off Tecki - something he hoped would never happen.

Tecki stepped in front of Senshi after some seconds. As he was about to raise a fist while staring directly into Senshi's eyes, the bell rang. "Almost..." Hitake sighed, wiping his head in relief. "Senshi, we gotta go!" He grabbed his friend by the arm and dashed off, leaving Tecki and Anchi on their own to contemplate their irritation for both Senshi and the school bell.

 _I don't like that guy,_ Senshi thought, as he was being dragged away.

Later that very same day, during the final fifth lesson, the school bell rang once again which allowed the students of South-Western Tokyo High School to depart from their lessons and either choose to return home, or remain at school to take part in after school clubs or activites. However, both Senshi and Hitake chose to go back to their abodes - for one reason, mostly.

To play Lapis Pugna Online. Once they felt the warmness of the virtual reality worlds encompassing them, they knew they were in their element.

 _10:09 AM - In-game Time_

 _Lapis Pugna Online, Incipien_

Senya, Senshi's online avatar, appeared in the virtual world in front of the shop where he accepted his first ever quest. After looking around, he quickly remembered something. _Hitake told me to wait here in Incipien,_ he thought, checking his heads-up display, finding that his stats were exactly the same as they were when he logged off. His health was at 1/10, his technique meter was at 0/5, his magic was at 10/10 and his buff meter was at 5/5. _How do I restore my health? I'll need to look around._

Departing from his neutral position outside the shop, Senya wandered around the stone-plated town until he came across a shop labelled 'Potions'. _There has to be some kind of Health Potion in this game that I can buy here,_ he guessed, walking towards the NPC that ran the shop.

"Hello there! What can I do for you, traveller?" the NPC shop-owner asked. He had a moustache and was rather skinny - this non-player character was nothing notable.

"I'd like to buy some things," Senya replied. His display was then met with a menu of different items. At the very top of the list, Senya located a 'Small Health Potion' above a 'Normal Health Potion'. The former costed exactly fifty gold pieces, while the latter costed one hundred gold pieces. After thinking for a moment, Senya selected two Normal Health Potions, as they both restored ten health and decided on purchasing them, taking away a total of one-hundred gold from his original five-hundred.

"Would you like anything else?" the shop-keeper asked, with its scripted sequences.

"No thank you," Senya answered, using one of his Normal Health Potions to fully restore his health. _I don't really need my Technique bar to be full right now, so I won't bother._ He then looked around for a nearby bench and began to sit on one as soon as he found it. _Now to wait._

After several minutes had passed, an avatar wearing some kind of Iron Armour and was equipped with an Iron Sword appeared around the corner. He seemed to be looking for somebody in particular, most evident when he approached Senya to ask about that somebody. Though, the questions were cut short when the stranger seemed to realise Senya's identity.

"Hey...are you my real life friend?" the stranger asked. "You look like how he described his avatar to me. My uh, username's Hitakaru, if that helps."

"Hitake?" Senya realised, smiling. "It's good to see you."

"Senshi, hey! Boy, you sure do look like a newbie," Hitakaru, Senya's real life best friend, noticed. His avatar looked exactly the same as his real life counterpart, minus the grey coloured chestpiece, leggings and open helmet. He then smirked. "Heh, never mind. Alright, first, we gotta get you some armour. You can't go fighting things without any armour!"

Senya thought back to his encounter with the two bandits, remembering specifically how he had no armour then. "Right..." he replied, deciding to not tell his friend about the quest. "So where can you purchase armour, then?"

"There's no armour shop here, for whatever reason," Hitakaru explained. "It's in the next town over, Banme. We gotta lug ourselves over there first. Maybe on the way, I can give you some experience farming tips."

"Sounds great!"

Hitakaru and Senya shared a friendly smile, then proceeded to exit Incipien through the east gate, travelling along the path the game provides in order to reach the next town. Fields of endless grass and distances full of buildings were the sights that the pair saw on their way.

 _10:15 AM - In-game Time_

 _Lapis Pugna Online, Outside Incipien_

Unfortunately, those sights did not last for very long as Senya and Hitakaru's attentions were drawn to two other players that appeared to fixated on the two seventeen year olds. The taller one on the left had an entire light blue armour set with a helmet that went over his face, though the colouring was also shady, as the same with his scimitar. The smaller, chubbier one on the right had a dark green set of armour, but his helmet did not go over his face.

"Hey, you two look kinda familiar," the fatter one commented. His 'partner' appeared to be the one in control.

The taller one frowned. "Because, you dope, these two are Hitake and Senshi. Finally, a good chance to beat you down - especially after what you said to me earlier today," he barked, his voice starting to sound like a crazed scientist's. "I get my chance...now!"

"Wait!" Hitakaru pleaded. "You can't hit us without challenging us to a duel first!"

"Yeah, Teckstar," the sizeable one agreed, much to the distaste of the towering one. "He's right. Unless we drag them to a PvP zone, we can't fight them here without challenging them."

The colossal one bit his lip. "Fine then, Ancho. I'll do just that..." Teckstar, the avatar belonging to Tecki, teased.

On both Hitakaru and Senya's screens, a message popped up that read: " _Teckstar has just challenged you to a duel. Do you accept?_ ". Below the text were a circle and a cross, signifying both 'accept' and 'decline' respectively.

"You're challenging us two versus one?!" Hitakaru questioned. His spirits were raised at the thought of possibly being able to team up with Senya to take the bully down once and for all, though not by much.

"It doesn't matter. I'm only level forty," Teckstar taunted, smiling maniacally. "You won't be able to touch me."

Senya and Hitakaru shared a grin, then both accepted the duel. A countdown from ten to zero then played in a message box that appeared on all sides of the fight, if it were contained in a cuboid. When it reached zero, both Senya and Hitakaru charged forward and readied a sword slash, though Teckstar unsheathed his zero, activating a certain technique.

"Wind Slasher!" the deranged bully yelled, using a sword slash to summon a gust of wind to blow his two opponents back, knocking Hitakaru's health down to one, while Senya's health remained at the same value. This forced the duel to end, with the message: " _Teckstar wins!_ " in place of the countdown message boxes.

"Alright! You did great, boss!" Ancho applauded, praising his partner in crime.

"I know I did. It was only natural for me to succeed," Teckstar affirmed, unsheathing his Aquamarine Scimitar. "Let's proceed, Ancho. We musn't waste our time here any longer."

As both Teckstar and Ancho were going to walk across the field to the west as a shortcut of sorts, Senya and Hitakaru were both lamenting at their easy defeat.

"That...guy angers me," Senya remarked, now absolutely livid.

"Yeah, he's a total jerk. Don't worry, one day, we'll be able to beat him without having to break a sweat," Hitakaru reassured, standing up and offering a hand to pull his friend up. Senya accepted the assistance, being helped to stand up with a strong pull. "Let's just get going. We still have some work to do!" He then donned a smile, finding the inner strength to do so even through all the anger that is filling his mind.

"Of course," Senya nodded, returning Hitakaru's smile with one of his own.

The two friends then wandered into the distance, following the same path as they were prior to the encounter. Even with the recent setback of being sent to near-death, Senya and Hitakaru were not fazed. They carried on walking, despite their desire to do something that they will regret later.

That is their true strength.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes**_ **: Oh look, this gets updated too. Expect more chapters of this fan-fic in the future! I promise it won't take me long to make a new one.**


	4. The Speed Runner

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Minutes following the encounter with Teckstar and Ancho, Senya and Hitakaru had finally reached the settlement they were looking for - a village called Ignis, something the pair discovered thanks to a sign. Contrasting with the stone buildings and general unappealing aesthetics of Incipien, Ignis had dark brown and dark red coloured houses and other such structures. The roads were paved with a smooth sandstone-like, juxtaposing perfectly with the shadowy buildings. It proved to be a rather nice place to look at.

"Welcome to Ignis, Senya!" Hitakaru started, stretching his hand out for his friend's eyes to focus on the settlement below them as they both stood upon a hill. "It's the second town that the developers designed, according to what I've read on the internet. What do you think?"

"Judging from the name, it appears to be a fire-based town," Senya guessed. "If the previous town was a stone-based town, it is likely that later towns will have some kind of elemental motif."

"Heh, just you wait and see. I want you to experience what kinds of places this game has to offer on your own. I ain't gonna spoil any of it for you," Hitakaru answered. "Anyway, let's get going. I've been meaning to show you what I can do...we were really unlucky when those bullies found us."

Senya remembered. He hated those two, as much as any person would hate another that constantly picks on others for simple amusement.

"I think a quest will do just nicely," the orange haired player brought forth. He advanced into Ignis, with Senya following close behind - they wandered about the town and only seemed to have a purpose when Hitakaru spotted a quest marker on his mini-map, about five minutes after the pair started walking around. After Senya noticed the marker and pointed it out to his less aware friend, they both proceeded to the non-player character owned household that the marker was positioned at, eventually meeting a slightly obese man.

"Goodness! You must be a traveller, correct?" the NPC asked, addressing Hitakaru. This revealed to Senya that NPCs only focus on one player at a time, though the extent of which he was not sure of.

"Yeah, I'm a traveller. You have a problem I need to take care of?" Hitakaru replied.

"I do. You see, my farm has been invaded by a ravenous creature. It appeared the other day and started eating my crops! It's still there now...could you take care of it for me?" the NPC explained.

Hitakaru nodded. "Sure."

"Excellent! My farm is just at the back of my house. Please take care of that creature!" the NPC finished, ending its script. Through his visual perspective, Hitakaru received a notification that informed him the quest had started.

"Alright Senya, follow me. Time for me to show you what a real quest is all about!" He boasted. Hitakaru and Senya then sped out of the abode, around the corner and into the farm, where an incredibly obese dark blue coloured creature was standing, doing nothing else. "I had a feeling it was one of these guys."

"What are these things?" Senya asked, his unfamiliarity with the game showing.

"This thing's called a Snorpal - it likes to sleep and...eat. Don't let the name fool ya, because it's not your pal," Hitakaru explained, using his heads-up display to check the level of the Snorpal. "Level twenty, huh? I guess it's the game's level matching system at work. No problem, Snorpals don't have good defence, so this should be a cinch!"

Senya was doubtful that his friend was going to succeed with the quest. _Usually in situations such as these, the cocky one is always shown to be put in their place. It is only a matter of time before Hitakaru succumbs to that trope-like fate._

However, Senya's doubts were quickly cast aside as Hitakaru had eliminated the Snorpal in a single sword slash, something the orange-haired one owes to his incredible strength stats and the Snorpal's less-than-stellar defence stat. _Well, I was proven wrong,_ Senya realised. Hitakaru returned to him once he eliminated the creature.

"Did ya see that?" Hitakaru asked, excited after having proven his worth.

"Yeah...I was surprised to see you succeed so easily," Senya answered. "It seems you're well versed in combat."

"Sure am! You see, even know our levels were the same, it was my knowledge of stats that let me beat that Snorpal pretty easily. You kinda learn this stuff as you go," Hitakaru explained, even though one was not required. "Let's go turn in that quest, see what kinda rewards I get!"

Senya nodded, then began to follow his friend back into the house where Hitakaru began talking to the same obese non-player character as before. "I beat that creature of yours," the higher leveled of the two spoke.

"Excellent! Thank you so much! Here, take these," the NPC replied, doing the animation of giving - after which, Hitakaru received a notification that the quest 'Snorefest' had been completed, with his quest rewards below the main text reading "1000 gold" and "Large Health Potion".

"Awesome, some decent gold and a good potion," Hitakaru noted. "Pretty standard stuff." With that, the two ventured back outside, though Senya seemed to have something on his mind.

"I've had a thought. Hitakaru, you're a melee player, correct?" Senya asked his longtime friend.

Hitakaru nodded. "Yeah. Why you asking?"

"What sort of player should I be? I've gathered there are several types of combat players - I'm just wondering what kind I should be," responded Senya, curiousity clear in his voice.

"Hmm..." Hitakaru paused to think. "I've known you for a long time and you've always been the smart guy. Kinda like the opposite of me, so if I'm a tank...you should be a hit and run type character."

"What might that be?"

"It's a kind of sword player that focuses mainly on Technique and Speed. They rush in a fight, damaging the opponent lightly with awesome speeds, though since they're so fast, they can't really be hit all that much. Their defence tends to be kinda low and their health, too," Hitakaru suggested, shrugging slightly. "I think you'd be a great glass cannon."

"I can understand having a good Speed...but what benefits would Technique bring?" Senya pressed on. "And what sort of weapon should I use? A lance? Longsword? A dagger?"

"Technique gives you a whole load of special skills that'll give you a wider variety of attack methods. It suits the glass cannon type well, especially if they're in a pinch. As for a weapon type...go for short-swords. They're fast, don't require much strength to use and some even boost your speed. That's without enchantments."

"Interesting...there are many different factors that go into a successful combat player, it seems. I'll give the glass cannon type a go, if it really does cater to my preferred style."

"Cool! Now we're done with that...let's go find you a quest!" Hitakaru finished, wandering off to hopefully locate another quest marker on the on-command minimap for his friend to tackle.

 _10:48 AM - In-game Time_

 _Path to Silvosus Forest_

Several minutes later, Senya and Hitakaru found themselves following the eastern path out of Ignis, on the trail of a quest they had found within the town. As they officially departed from Ignis, a player with an obviously high speed stat had shot past them and ran straight into a tree, though as unexpected, the player disappeared. Senya and Hitakaru looked on in confusion, then at each other for a moment.

"What was that?" Hitakaru asked aloud. "Did he use magic?"

"I did not see him do anything, neither did I hear anything. If it were magic, I'm sure there would have been some indication of it," Senya answered. Out of nowhere, he reacted as if he had an idea. "Are there any exploits? Glitches, if you will, that allow this kind of teleportation?"

"I think I've heard something about that on the official forums...but it requires a ton of speed," Hitakaru recalled. "Why ask?"

"Perhaps this player is a speed runner. You mentioned earlier that this game is not-so linear, so they can't be looking to complete the story as per the norm with other games. I theorise that this speed runner may be part of a category, like he needs to complete a certain amount of quests in a certain amount of time, or he's activating a long-winded trick that may very well be game breaking," Senya suggested, walking back and forth as he spoke.

"Probably. I haven't really heard of anyone speed running this game before, though people have been saying that it's impossible to speed run this. Maybe this guy's trying to be the first person to speed run it?" Hitakaru agreed.

"Plausible. We really won't know," Senya nodded. "Let us continue. Maybe we'll hear about this later on."

Shrugging off their suspicions, the two friends strolled over the game's path, towards the forest in the close distance. Once inside, Hitakaru stopped Senya in his tracks.

"What's the matter?" Senya asked his suddenly cautious friend.

Hitakaru said nothing - he only got the Large Health Potion from his inventory out and handed it to Senya. "Your health's still kinda low, isn't it? Take this potion, I won't need it."

"Are you sure?" Senya checked, making sure his friend was not making a mistake. He took the potion happily after Hitakaru nodded, then consumed it, his health increasing back to its current maximum value of ten. Hitakaru consumed a second potion of his, his own health increasing to 16/27. The use of a third, small potion brought his health to twenty six. "I see."

"Told ya I won't need it," Hitakaru proved, smiling.

Senya returned his friend's smile and equipped his Wooden Sword, ready to attack. _So my quest is to eliminate five Wasps and bring the stingers that they drop back to that biologist...should be no problem._

Mere minutes had passed - the time it took for the two to come across a colony of Wasp monsters, all of which were level three. As soon as Senya found the group, he ran in and took one out using only two sword slashes, looting its corpse for its stinger afterwards. He repeated this process four more times, until he had all the stingers the quest required for completion.

"That's that," Senya finished. He began walking towards the way he and Hitakaru entered the forest and re-followed the path back to Ignis, in order to truly complete the quest.

 _11:01 AM - In-game Time_

 _Ignis Town_

After returning to Ignis, Senya and Hitakaru immediately went for the building that housed the NPC that the former received the earlier quest from. Once present in front of the middle aged female NPC, Senya brought out the five stingers that she needed, saving the trouble of initiating her script from the very start.

"Ah, you've found them! Thank you for traversing into Silvosus Forest!" the NPC thanked, doing the same animation as the male NPC, the one that gave Hitakaru his quest, did when he was handing over the quest's rewards. Senya's rewards consisted of three Small Health Potions and two hundred gold, along with some experience.

Luckily, this experience combined with the ones gained from killing the Wasps had allowed Senya to level up. The familiar stat increase screen appeared before him. _If I want to be a glass cannon, I should focus on Technique and Speed,_ he remembered, thinking back to his earlier talk with Hitakaru. After thinking for a minute, Senya placed two of his points into Technique and the other three into Speed.

Doing this had caused another notification to appear once Senya had confirmed his points spend-age - he learnt a new skill, one called 'Spin Slicer'. "Interesting. I wonder what this one does?" Senya asked himself, aloud.

Hitakaru smiled, but soon remembered something. "Aw man! I forgot I was gonna show you where to get armour! Come on Senya, follow me!" He rushed out of the house, with Senya following him in a mix of confusion and slight hurry. As they proceeded to a dark red building with a wooden sign attached to it that read 'Armour', an announcement notification appeared before both of them.

"What's this?" Senya asked, confused even further. Too many things were happening at once for him.

"An announcement. These appear whenever," explained Hitakaru. He coughed, then began reading it aloud. "User 'O' is now marked as Wanted. Reward for kill: half the experience you need to level up and five-thousand gold."

"O? Is that really their username? Odd," Senya noticed. "Wait, they're wanted? What does that mean?"

"When the game marks you as Wanted, there's a bounty placed on ya. You can be attacked by anyone without a duel being initialised and once you're killed, you're jailed for an entire day. This only happens if you're either hacking or breaking the game's rules, or both," Hitakaru explained. "I wonder what this O guy did."

As if on cue, the same strange player from earlier sped past the two though this time, he had a red marker above his avatar. Hitakaru knew what this meant.

"He's the Wanted player! He's O!" Hitakaru pointed out. "Come on! Let's beat him down and get that experience and gold!"

"Right!" Senya nodded, rushing ahead alongside Hitakaru.

 _11:09 AM - In-game Time_

 _Silvosus Forest_

O was much faster than them, though Senya and Hitakaru continued to keep him in their sights. The Wanted player entered through Silvosus Forest, not stopping for anyone or anything. Senya and Hitakaru were starting to lose him as his speed picked up a small amount.

"We need some sorta strategy..." Hitakaru stated, becoming slightly tired out.

Senya paused, then asked, "Do you have a long ranged Technique?" His speed stat was a little higher than Hitakaru's, but not by much. "We'll need one to strike him down. We physically cannot keep up with him."

"Nope," Hitakaru shook his head. "But what I can do is..." He equipped his Iron Sword, reeled back his arm and threw the sword, hoping that it would work.

Luckily, it did, and O was knocked to the virtual ground. "Good work! Now run!" Senya ordered, running as fast as his current stats would allow him. Before O could get back up, both Senya and Hitakaru caught up with him, now starting to slash at him with all their strength.

It was evidenced that O spent very little points into his Health and Defence as it did not take long for him to be fully eliminated. Senya was the one to get the final hit in, so the bonuses were given to him.

"Awesome job there, Senya!" Hitakaru complimented. He raised his hand, which was wide open for a high five.

"Thanks, Hitakaru," Senya replied, happily accepting the friendly gesture.

The two shared a smile and turned around to walk back into Ignis, but something prevented them from going any further. More like, some _body_.

"You stole my kill...that's not very nice," the female player growled. She was clearly irritated, an expression that her face and tone of voice gave off. She had a lance equipped and was pointing it towards Senya. "I challenge you to a duel. If you win, you'll come with me. If I lose, I'll back off. Do we have a deal?"

"Wait, who even are you?" Hitakaru asked the stranger, equipping his Iron Sword. "I'm not gonna let you hurt my friend."

"I have no interest in you. I only want to fight the one that took down that glitcher," the girl barked, turning to Hitakaru for a brief moment, then turning back to Senya. "So, do you accept?"

Senya paused. _What does this person want from me? She's appeared out of nowhere, then randomly asks to fight me. What is her goal? What does she desire? Though, if it's a fight she wants...I have no reason to object,_ he thought, equipping his Wooden Sword. "I accept."

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_ **Sorry for not updating this for about a month. As a gift...here it is. I really don't have anything else :(**

 **Oh well. See you all next chapter!**


	5. The Masayoshi Hanta Guild

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

A female player with medium length light green hair - with a full set of adamant armour minus the helmet and an adamant lance to match the armour and her hair - had dropped down from a tree branch, having observed Senya and Hitakaru's elimination of the wanted player O. She pointed the lance directly at Senya's head and offered him a duel challenge with a slight caveat: if she were to win, Senya would have to go with her to an undisclosed location and if Senya were to be victorius, she would leave him alone.

Senya thought about his position for a moment, but his curiosity and somewhat annoyance of this person forced him to say: "I accept." Such a reply pleased the girl.

"Good," she merely responded, sending Senya a duel request that he immediately accepted. As the countdown started, Hitakaru watched on, helpless, as his best friend began to combat a true weirdo.

The stranger and Senya stared at each other with an intensity that only rivals shared, anticipating for the countdown to reach zero. Once it did, Senya dashed forward and tried a downwards sword slash, but the girl parried the attack and used a powerful horizontal slash that seemed to glow a slight turquoise to send the black haired player backwards at least a hundred centimetres.

Senya checked his health meter, it reading 5/10. He grit his teeth, realising how powerful this opponent was and knowing that this would not be an easy fight to win. He looked at his Technique meter, but to his dismay, it read 0/5, meaning he could not pull off any convoluted plan he could think up. Senya had to combat this person with his bare movements, nothing else.

After half a minute's worth of thinking, Senya ran forward once more though this time, he decided to jump over the girl and go for a diagonal slash on her back. However, the girl easily saw what he was doing and blocked the attempted slash, then struck Senya down with a stab, her adamant lance glowing the same turquoise colour as before. This attack sent Senya into a tree, reducing his health down to 1/10 and ending the duel with the girl as the victor.

"Nooooo! Senya!" Hitakaru cried, dramatically. "What are you gonna do to him?"

The girl turned around and smiled at the orange-haired player. "Nothing bad, I promise," she answered. The stranger approached Senya and offered a hand to help him up. "Looks like I won. You remember our deal, don't you?"

"Yes, I do," Senya sighed. "Where to?"

"I'll show you in due time," the girl replied. Her voice implied that she had no malicious intent as it was sweet and natural for a seemingly teenage woman. "Just follow me, please. I don't want any further trouble."

"Neither do I," Senya returned. He was frustrated with his loss, though his subconscious justified his loss by forcing himself to believe he wanted to lose in order to find out who this girl was. "Lead the way, then."

The green-haired player nodded and began walking in the opposite direction to where Ignis was located, with Senya following close behind. Hitakaru on the other hand, remained in place, confused and angry about what had just transpired.

 _Fine! I'll just do my own thing and wait for Senya to tell me what happened. I trust him, anyway_ , Hitakaru thought, walking back into Ignis.

 _11:18 AM - In-game Time_

 _Unnamed pathway_

Senya and the stranger continued walking through Silvosus Forest and passed through the next town and routes that they came across. Along one of the routes that followed the next town, Senya began to think to himself about his current situation.

 _I wonder what this girl wants...the fact that she stated she will not enact anything distasteful makes me believe that will be the case, but how am I to know her true desires? Maybe she's leading me into a trap or an ambush of some description and I am just willingly allowing her to do so,_ Senya theorised. _Perhaps I'm an even bigger fool than I thought I was._

"So, I guess you must be wondering who I am and what we're doing," the girl started, partially guessing correctly. "First of all, my username's Kyohan. What's yours?"

Senya smiled, though he still kept his wits about him. "Senya. And yes, where are we going and what is your purpose for leading me to that destination?"

"I was watching you and your friend take on that speed runner and I heard everything that you two said before you started taking him on," Kyohan explained. "From that point on, I was interested in you. I knew your tactical style would be perfect for the guild that I lead."

"You lead a guild?" Senya asked, for confirmation.

Kyohan nodded. "We're called Masayoshi Hanta. We basically act as a police force, stopping those evil players from doing what they do. Though we're not very big, we have successfully taken down a few Wanted players before. Other than that, we're a basic guild."

"I see...so that means you must have been hunting down O," Senya guessed.

Kyohan nodded once again. "Yeah. I decided to let you guys take care of him because I was interested in what you can do, if you could back up your words with actions. You're definitely the kind of person our guild needs."

"Someone tactical to lead you through tough challenges?" Senya questioned. "But then, what do you do as a leader? Why do you need me?"

"Because I'm nowhere near as tactical as you are. I'm more of a leader, not an in-depth thinker. But that's not to say I'm not intellectual," Kyohan returned, grinning. "I wouldn't have recruited you if I wasn't."

"You have yet to recruit me," Senya also grinned, as if he were challenging her.

"I suppose I haven't. Not officially, anyway," agreed Kyohan. "Senya, would you like to join the Masayoshi Hanta?"

Senya thought on it. _I don't have anything to lose by joining with her guild. I'm sure Hitakaru will understand,_ he juggled around within his mind. "I accept."

Kyohan smiled. "Great! That makes this whole thing less awkward," she noted.

The two players of opposite genders approached a stairway that led to some indoors facility that was beneath a large ocean. A closer inspection of the water's contents revealed that there was a lot more than a mere pathway below the sea.

There was an entire town underneath there, with tough glass as walls to radiate an aquarium-like feel. Senya was impressed with this design choice.

"Welcome to Liquidum, the town where the Masayoshi Hanta's base of operations are!" Kyohan introduced. "We chose this place for our base because we liked the atmosphere and that nobody would expect us to be here. Not many people go to this town for social hangouts or anything of the sort."

"Smart choice," Senya commented.

"Well, let's go!" Kyohan finished, starting to walk down the stairs leading a pathway that eventually spiralled downwards to a grand open space with multiple floors. The two were on the top floor, there being a total of five floors including the ground floor. Kyohan and Senya walked down the pathway that was on the left of the open space, passing through a narrow hallway and a corner of said hallway to two wooden doors, matching with Liquidum's wood flooring.

"So this is your base? I expected something a little more grander," Senya remarked.

"I'll have you know, this place is pretty secretive," informed Kyohan. "Either way, our rooms are split up between genders. Lucky for you, one of our male members left about a month ago, so we've already got a spare bed for you."

"Excellent," Senya merely spoke.

"Uh, Senya, was it? Are you ready to meet the other two members of the Masayoshi Hanta guild?" Kyohan asked.

Senya nodded. "Yes."

Kyohan smiled, then opened the wooden door on the left, revealing a white walled room with two panes of glass on the back wall, reminding the residents of the room that they are underwater. A female and a male of similar age to both Senya and Kyohan sat on both of the beds; both of which were positioned in the two corners on the left wall. These two as-of-yet-unknown folks looked at their green haired friend first, before noticing Senya's existence.

"Who is this, Kyohan?" the female with red hair asked her guild's leader.

"Let me explain. First of all, Jonetsu and Naohiro, I'd like you to meet Senya," Kyohan answered, introducing the two to the guild's newest recruit. "Senya, meet Jonetsu and Naohiro."

"Hello," Senya greeted, waving slightly.

Naohiro, the male with silver hair, nodded. Jonetsu, the female with red hair, returned Senya's greeting. "Hey! So where'd Kyohan pick you up from?" She asked.

"Kyohan and I met after a friend and I had taken down the most recent wanted player, O. She challenged me to a duel and she won, likely due to her having much higher stats than me," Senya recounted. "Then she informed me about what she wanted, why she was doing it and about this guild."

"Pretty much that," Kyohan confirmed. "I chose him over his friend because Senya here was the one that came up with the plan to stop O. With a speed stat that was way higher than both of them combined, it was pretty impressive that he managed to pull it off."

"A tactician, huh? We sure do need one of those," Jonetsu stated, folding her arms and standing up. "I'm not sayin' we're bad or anything, but we're pretty sloppy most of the time. We get hurt a lot more than we wanna. But there's somethin' about you that I don't like..."

"And what might that be?" Senya asked, genuinely curious.

"...You've got the most basic equipment there is! Wooden sword, no armour...I'm willin' to bet you're a new player, aren't cha?" Jonetsu observed. "How can a newbie like you be good for our guild?"

"To be honest, my friend was going to show me where to buy good items in Ignis before we were interrupted by O. Kyohan, not to be rude, but she did stop us from continuing," Senya explained, blatantly being rude.

"You were? I'm sorry about that," apologised Kyohan. "Please, let me make it up to you. I'll show you the ins and outs of buying good equipment - there's a bigger range of things here than in Ignis, anway."

"I accept," Senya nodded, smiling. "Thank you."

"No problem!" Kyohan returned. She turned to both Jonetsu and Naohiro. "You two just do whatever while we're gone, okay? If you need me, I'll just be at the stores in town."

Jonetsu and Naohiro nodded, then the former sat back down on the bed she was previously sitting on.

 _11:30 AM - In-game Time_

 _Liquidum Town_

Kyohan led Senya out of the room and to the right side of the ground floor, inside a building labelled 'Armour'. They both approached the counter, but did not engage the shopkeeper NPC.

"What is your defence level, Senya?" Kyohan asked.

"Zero," Senya simply replied. "What of it?"

"I need to know because your defence level determines the kind of armour you can wear. Since you haven't put any points into it, which I recommend you do, you'll only be able to wear the bottom set of armour - bronze," Kyohan explained. "How much gold do you have?"

Senya checked the money counter on the heads-up-display that appeared when he commanded it to. "Five-thousand one-hundred. Would that be enough to buy all pieces of the bronze set?"

"Should be. It's been a long time since I checked," Kyohan half-joked. "Go check. If you don't have enough, I'll be happy to provide."

The black haired player nodded and approached the NPC, activating the shop menu. Bronze armour pieces were at the top of the list with the prices being: 400 gold for the chestplate, 250 for the helmet, 300 for the leg plates and 350 for a shield. All of that came to 1300 gold, Senya calculated, which was easily affordable. He confirmed his purchase and equipped each piece, now fully decked out in a brown, metallic armour.

"I see you got the shield as well. It's not really necessary for some, but it can be useful," Kyohan commented. "Now for weapons." Kyohan began to walk out of the shop, with Senya following her once again into the shop to the right of the armour store. The new shop was labelled 'Weapons'.

As before, Kyohan and Senya paused before they reached the counter. "I'm guessing the procedure for determining what weapons you can utilise is the same as the one for armour," Senya guessed.

"Correct. What's your strength stat?" Kyohan asked.

"Zero," Senya informed. He had temporarily un-equipped the helmet so he could be heard easily. "Bronze again, is it?"

"I'm afraid so," smiled Kyohan, stepping back as to allow Senya to use the shop, which he did.

Mirroring the same actions he took as last time, he bought the bronze sword, which costed 450 gold. With the armour, Senya had spent 1750 gold in total, reducing his previous total of 5100 to 3350. Senya equipped his new sword once the transaction had been made.

"That old wooden sword of yours? You don't need that anymore, so you may as well sell it," Kyohan advised. Senya agreed that this action had benefit to it, so he did just that. His old sword sold for 200 gold, bringing his total amount of gold up to 3550.

"Excellent. I appreciate your assistance," Senya thanked Kyohan. "Also, thank you for inviting me into your guild. Jonetsu seems like a good person, but I'm not so sure about Naohiro."

"I guess Naohiro's a bit introverted, but he's really a great guy once you get to know him," Kyohan defended, smiling again. "And you're welcome for everything, too! Honestly, I'm just glad I've helped another person. I'm even more glad that you said your thanks."

"Thanks goes all round. You do one good thing for another, that person says their thanks and you say your thanks for their thanks. Really, it's an endless loop of thanks," Senya analysed, also smiling.

Kyohan raised an eyebrow at this, but smiled nonetheless. "You see, that over analytical mind is what exactly what we need. Follow me back to the base, we need to talk about what we're going to do next."

Senya nodded, then continued to follow Kyohan all the way back to the same room as before. However, something had changed - not of the room itself, but of someone in the room. Once Senya entered the room, he found himself held by the throat from a certain silver haired male.

"Naohiro? What the...what are you doing?!" Kyohan questioned, worried for what the usually reserved person might do. "Put him down right now!"

"I can't do that, Kyohan. You know what happened with the last person we accepted into our guild. They turn right around and they're total jerks, disgracing the name and purpose of our guild. We cannot allow this to happen again," Naohiro finally spoke.

"...I see. At least, put him down so he can explain himself to you," Kyohan ordered, folding her arms.

Naohiro reluctantly let go of Senya. The feeling of nearly being choked translated well into virtual reality, as Senya so felt. "I'm not a black-hearted person. I'm not sure of what you're referring to, but I have no malicious intentions, I can promise that to you. What happened to your guild, anyway?"

Kyohan sighed. "Remember when I told you that we had a member who left about a month ago? Well, that person had promise. It seemed like they could add something to the guild, though I was terribly wrong. We firmly believe in justice, that the wrong thing should never be done and those that do evil things should be punished for it. Our old member...turned out to be a player killer."

"Player killer?" Senya questioned, oblivious to the term.

"It's a kind of player that specifically kills other players in special player versus player zones. They do it for their own gain, to steal the stuff they drop." Kyohan explained further. "As soon as we found out that he was one of them, we immediately kicked him out of the guild. He...wasn't pleased with that and even said a few rude things on his way out. We haven't seen him since then, but we're all a little bit shaken up after what he said. I fear that he may return to do something terrible to us."

Senya turned to Naohiro. "So that must be why you're wary of me joining. Is there anything I can do to prove my innocence to you?" He asked.

"How about a duel? That's a common method of deciding important things like this - you take your words into action," Naohiro suggested. He paused to equip some leather armour, a quiver and an oak longbow. "If I win, you'll leave us alone and never return. If you win, you join our guild and I'll know for myself that I can trust you. No...I'll _have_ to trust you."

"That sounds acceptable to me," Senya agreed. "I accept that challenge."

"Hold on for a moment. Senya, you're only level three, is this really a good idea?" Kyohan queried, doubtful.

"Judging by the fact that Naohiro has a bow, it's obvious to assume he's a ranged player. I'm certain I can think of a counter for that," Senya analysed, observing the aggresive silver haired player.

"Why don't cha just set your levels the same? That way, you'll be able to see who's really better without some stupid numbers gettin' in your way," Jonetsu put forth.

Naohiro and Senya seemed to like the idea. "Good. We'll do that," Naohiro agreed.

"I'm fine with that," Senya commented. "Where shall we fight? We clearly cannot do so in here."

"Just outside the town will be fine," Naohiro answered.

"First, I need to heal. My health is merely at one point," brought up Senya. "How can I easily restore it?"

Kyohan pointed to the bed. "Sleep in any bed for any amount of time and anything lowered will restore."

"Thank you," Senya thanked, approaching the bed and immediately sleeping.

An hour passed, with the three members of the Masayoshi Hanta guild waiting for Senya to wake. Once he did, Senya and Naohiro started to stare at each other; the former having determination to prove himself and the latter ready to defend his guild and friends. Naohiro exited the room, Senya followed close behind while the two girls also followed, with worry and anticipation filling their minds. Who was going to win? What was going to happen?

Soon would they find out.

 _11:39 AM - In-game Time_

 _Outside Liquidum's entrance_

Outside Liquidum, on one of the planes of grass beside a tree, opposite the entrance to the town, Senya and Naohiro took their places. With his Technique meter, Senya was fully confident that he could take this guy down with good use of his skills. On the flip side, Naohiro knew he had to win in order to protect his friends and with his bow, he would ensure that.

Each side was confident. Naohiro set up the duel, with the level limiting conditions agreed on earlier enforcing that both players' levels are reduced to three. Following that, the five second countdown started.

The fight then began. Naohiro shot first with an arrow, but Senya countered with the use of his bronze shield. The latter player then began to run forward, protecting from further arrow barrages by placing his shield in front of him as he ran. Once he got up close, Senya tried for a diagonal slash, though Naohiro managed to skilfully parry the slash with a hardened and accurate arrow.

 _Fool. He's left himself open,_ Senya grinned. He stretched his sword out backwards and shouted, "Quick Cutter!". He then stabbed forwards as he shot ahead at a speed that could not be seen by the naked eye, stabbing Naohiro right through the skin of his side. The black haired player ended up on the other side of Naohiro and used this time to go for a horizontal slash, though Naohiro reacted quickly and parried the shot once again.

Sighing, Senya once again activated Quick Cutter, reducing his Technique meter to 3/5 and dealing slight damage to Naohiro. Though, he had no way of knowing how long it would take before he would win. If he did.

Naohiro shot an arrow for Senya's head and the latter did not react in time so he took the hit, lowering his health to 8/10. The silver haired archer tried for another shot of similar calibre, but Senya managed to block it and almost hit Naohiro with an upwards diagonal swipe. On the edge of being cut, Naohiro fired an arrow at Senya's arm, dealing more damage and lessening his health points to 6/10.

 _Now!_ Senya said to himself, using Quick Cutter again to strike Naohiro. Now becoming annoyed that he was taking pot-shots and would likely be finished fairly soon, Naohiro fired a continuous barrage of arrows that forced Senya to keep on the defensive, using his shield to act as a wall for the arrows. When he became cheeky and tried to shoot over the wall and hit Senya that way, all that the black haired one would do is move his shield accordingly. No arrows passed Senya and none would hit him from then on.

Even when Naohiro's next arrow glowed red and then had fire upon it, the bronze shield proved to be a sufficient enough defence. This was when Senya realised something. _He must have a limited supply of arrows...if I just wait him out, I'll be able to gain the upper-hand,_ he planned.

Senya kept his defence up for a while, lasting for several minutes. Even Kyohan and Jonetsu were starting to get tired due to the excessive wait time, though they were pleased to see that Naohiro had run out of arrows - something was finally going to happen. Lowering his shield, Senya revealed his grin and Naohiro realised his predicament.

"I'll give you a chance to give up," Senya told Naohiro. "You know you cannot do anything to me right now, so why prolong this any further?"

Naohiro grunted, then accepted this fate. "Fine," he breathed, using his heads-up-display to end the duel with a surrender notice. "Know that I don't immediately trust you."

"That's fine," Senya accepted. "You'll warm up to me in due time."

Jonetsu sighed a breath of relief. "Finally! You boys sure took your sweet time. How 'bout we go inside and start talkin' about our next plan of action?" She suggested.

"That would be an optimal choice," agreed Senya, un-equipping his sword.

 _I just hope these two won't be so problematic from here on out,_ Kyohan worried, before putting on a calming smile. "Come on everybody, we've got work to do."

The members of the Masayoshi Hanta guild plus Senya re-entered Liquidum, tension being reduced. For the time being, at least. Who knows what the future has to hold?


	6. Attack on the Grey Knights

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Walking down a stone-paved path next to cube shaped buildings, the Masayoshi Hanta guild were aiming to go towards a certain destination. The gentle breeze of the virtual wind brushed past their respective avatars' hair as the scent of a lovely rose passed through their senses, the game world perfectly capturing the essence of a sky blue day in the town known as Lux.

Though, the guild had no time for any of that. It was not long before they would reach their destination.

"So uh, why're we here again?" Jonetsu asked.

A remark of this calibre earned her a facepalm from Naohiro. "Are you serious, Jonetsu? Hmph, I suppose your memory's never been that great...anyway, you better remember this time. We're here to take part in an interesting quest I found, where we need to protect an NPC guild from an attack," he explained with some irritation in his tone.

Kyohan turned to face Naohiro, but continued to lead the group walk. "You said it was high-paying, right?" She questioned, needing assurance.

"Yes," Naohiro nodded. "Ten whole K."

"Good. We'll be needing that much to cover the rent for the next few months," stated Kyohan. "Oh, are you guys alright with setting the XP gain so it transfers entirely to Senya?"

Senya snapped out of his trance and joined the conversation. "You're letting me have the experience?" He doubted, raising an eyebrow in both curiosity and confusion. "I can guess why, but I'd like to know for sure."

"It's because you're so underleveled compared to the rest of us! I'm level forty, Naohiro's level twenty-six and Jonetsu's level twenty-four! If I remember correctly, you're only level three, so you need those levels," Kyohan exclaimed, turning to both Naohiro and Jonetsu, who were both bringing up the rear. "You guys won't mind, will you?"

"Not at all," Naohiro shook his head.

"Hey, it'd be greedy if we took the XP! Senya can take it," Jonetsu smiled.

Kyohan also smiled, then turned back to the male player in question. "There you have it. You're getting the experience whether you like it or not."

"It's not like I ever rejected it," Senya returned. "Either way, I appreciate the sentiment."

"You're welcome," Kyohan returned, going back to leading the group.

Silence then wrought destruction upon the guild members' mouths. This silence allowed them to focus on walking, which in turn, led them to their destination - Naohiro confirmed it. He took the lead as the guild entered one of the square stone buildings that was also stone on the inside.

Everything in the building was made of stone - the tables, chairs, doors, furniture - everything. This did not bother the guild, as Naohiro merely approached the adult NPC that was sitting upon one of the chairs in the medium-sized room.

"You've returned! Thank the gods above..." the non-player character sighed. "And I'll assume that this is the team you said you were bringing, correct?"

"It is," Naohiro nodded. "I've already told them about what you require us to do; it's to defend the Grey Knights of Petra Mountain. But tell me...what is your connection to them?"

"I'm a Squire. I was told to come out here to find warriors strong enough to protect them from an attack they know is coming," the Squire informed. "They will arrive within three hours. Please, come along with me." The man stood up and got out a book of sorts.

"What's that?" Kyohan asked the NPC, referring to the book. As she was in the same party as Naohiro, she was able to talk to the Squire.

"It's an official teleportation spellbook that every member of the Grey Knights get upon initiation. All it does it teleport the user and anybody caught in its use radius to a certain part of HQ," the Squire answered. He equipped himself with a piece of chalk. "I'll need you all to stand close to me."

The Masayoshi Hanta guild members did just as the NPC requested. Once they were all standing in close proximity to the Squire and in a bunch, the member of the Grey Knights guild drew a circle around the players and himself, then began to charge magical energy from the spellbook.

Before long, the five of them teleported far away from the town. The chalk dissipated once the group left the scene.

 _1:02 PM - In-game Time_

 _Grey Knights HQ_

Within a half white-bricked and half black-bricked castle positioned on the peak of a medium-sized mountain, the Masayoshi Hanta guild members and the Squire reappeared in a room that had a wooden floor and stone ceiling. The Squire stepped out from the group a short distance, then turned around to talk directly to them.

"You're now at the Grey Knights Headquarters!" the Squire greeted, smiling. "Follow me."

Having no other choice, the Masayoshi Hanta members started to follow the Squire out of the room and down a hallway, then up a small flight of stairs that eventually led to a wide open room that had a grand throne at the far end. The group approached the throne and it was found that a man with a full set of dark grey armour (of which was rather intimidating) was sitting upon it.

"Sir! I have found warriors capable of protecting our beloved guild!" the Squire informed the man. "Their strength will be necessary for our defence!"

The man sat up. "I see...you four are strong, are you?"

"Yes, sir," Kyohan nodded, speaking as the leader of her guild. "We are the Masayoshi Hanta. We'll be right by your side in this battle."

"Excellent. I see we have some confident people protecting us," the man commented. "I am the leader of the Grey Knights. My name is Cinereus." He spoke with monotone clear in his voice.

"I am the leader of the Masayoshi Hanta. My name is Kyohan," Kyohan returned, bowing to show respect.

Jonetsu stepped forward, also bowing. "My name's Jonetsu!"

Naohiro followed suit. "I am Naohiro."

 _Is this necessary? They are only pieces of code..._ Senya thought as he stood with his arms folded. This got the attention of Cinereus.

"And you?" Cinereus asked the black-haired player.

 _Fine,_ Senya sighed. "My name is Senya. Before we begin, may I ask you something?"

"You fail to use honorifics and therefore, you lack respect. However, I find you most interesting. I shall answer your question, no matter how daring it might be," Cinereus answered. "I will only answer one question from you."

"Good," Senya nodded. The rest of his guild were watching him in confusion, but he did not seem to care. "Why do you need us?"

"We need outsiders because our soldiers are preoccupied with another matter," the leader of the Grey Knights simply responded. His voice was still monotone. "That is all."

Senya did not reply. He merely nodded and stepped backwards, allowing things to play out as they were. Kyohan gave him a look of suspicion, though he shrugged it off. "In less than three hours, the attackers will arrive. You four will wait outside the front gate for them, understand?" Cinereus ordered.

"Yes, we understand," Kyohan replied. "Do you know anything about the assailants themselves?"

"No," answered Cinereus, in his booming yet monotone voice. "We do not know who they are, where they are or why they are. All we know is when they are attacking."

"And how do you know that?" Senya interjected, his suspicions still up.

"We were sent a message from an anonymous source that informed us of the attack," Cinereus revealed to the player guild. "We do not even know who sent the note."

Everybody fell silent, until Cinereus' script forced him to continue speaking. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, we are ready," Kyohan answered, knowing that each one of her guild members and friends were good to go.

"Squire, take them to the front gate. If they need to prepare, allow them to. Make sure they are outside the gate before the time of the attack," Cinereus demanded, leaning back on the throne.

"Yes, sir," Squire nervously replied. He began to walk out of the room, with the Masayoshi Hanta guild in tow. Cinereus watched as they departed through the use of the stairs, with who knows what flowing through his coded mind.

 _3:42 PM - In-game Time_

 _Outside the Grey Knights HQ_

In time, the four members of the Masayoshi Hanta guild were right outside the grand castle belonging to the Grey Knights; they were waiting in anticipating for their expected opponents.

"I'm wonderin' who it might be," Jonetsu started to speak, breaking the silence. "Could be an NPC, or maybe even a player!"

"You're suggesting this might be a Mirror Quest?" Kyohan asked the only other female in the guild.

This garnered Senya's curiosity. "What is a Mirror Quest?"

"They're a set of quests, usually only two, that tell different sides of the quest's story. For example, if one side of the Mirror Quest is to defend a farm from say...thieves, or something; the other side of it will involve the player becoming one of the thieves. Whatever side wins, affects the faction involved," Kyohan explained in detail. "So if this is part of a Mirror Quest and we fail, the Grey Knights will probably be pretty damaged. They may even cease to exist."

"They will no longer exist? Will anyone else still see them in the game?" Senya continued to ask.

"Uh-huh," nodded Kyohan. "They'll disappear from the game entirely. This game's hugely story based, a first for VRMMOs, as far as I'm aware of."

Senya nodded, confirming that he understood what she meant. Once the conversation was finished, silence befell the guild once again as they waited a long period of time for anybody to show up. Approaching was a tall person with light blue, diamond armour, a diamond scimitar and a short, chubby person with dark green, adamant armour and an adamant sword. Senya instantly recognised the two.

 _No...it's them?_ Senya realised, gritting his teeth.

His fellow guild members noticed his facial expression. "Senya, do you know these people?" Kyohan asked.

"Yes. They are two...bullies that I know in real life. I emphasise the 'bully' part of that sentence," Senya explained, stepping back. "Their names..."

"Are Teckstar..." the taller one cut in.

"And Ancho!" the fatter one ended.

Senya's anger continued to rise, but he never allowed himself to be consumed by it. "You two took the other half of the Mirror Quest?"

"Clearly. It appears as if you took the wrong half," Teckstar taunted. "It seems like you joined up with some other, meaningless friends with no Hitake in sight. At least you got rid of that moron."

"He is no moron! How dare you come up with such baseless accusations!" Senya barked.

"Baseless? Please, the only thing baseless around here is your determination to protect this damn guild," Teckstar returned, smiling menacingly. "You're not even aware of who the Grey Knights are, are you?"

Kyohan decided it was right for her to step in. "They're a guild that protects the world from people like you! I won't let you ruin their name any longer!"

"Oh? Someone with some spunk? I appreciate that in a woman," remarked Teckstar. "You look like you know your stuff. However, not even you know the truth of the Grey Knights."

"The truth? That implies that there's something they're not telling the players," Kyohan pointed out. "I don't believe that's true."

"You are a fool. I would tell you this supposed truth, but since you oppose me..." Teckstar returned, gripping his scimitar. "I'm inclined to not."

"Same goes for us," Kyohan spat back, equipping her adamant armour and gripping her adamant lance. Naohiro equipped his bow and reinforced hard leather armour while Jonetsu equipped her black mage robes and her magical staff. Senya already had his combat equipment ready. "You sound like the kind of person that thinks he knows everything. Tell me, do you know of the Masayoshi Hanta guild?"

"Why would I care for an irrelevant guild such as that?" Teckstar wondered.

Kyohan really started to hate this guy. "Because we're them. If you call us irrelevant, you should know that we stand for justice! Fighting people like you is our job, so prepare to be shown who's truly the irrelevant one!" Kyohan went for a stab with her lance, but Teckstar dodged by jumping backwards.

"Some speed you have there. Go, Ancho! Warm them up for me," demanded Teckstar. Ancho grinned, his helmet covering his face entirely.

"Ha-ha!" Ancho chuckled, going for a jump slash on Kyohan. She parried the blow and was ready to counterattack, but a magical fire blast shot the obese one away.

Jonetsu had fired the blast. "I'll take this moron! Kyohan, you just watch!"

Kyohan nodded and leapt backwards, to Senya and Naohiro's side. Ancho got back up and was rather mad at the previous transgression. "That's not very nice! Looks like you're the dumb one around here, 'cause you need to be told some manners!" Ancho informed.

"You're callin' me dumb? I gotta say, you're a hypocrite, 'cause callin' me dumb is the dumbest thing you can ever do!" Jonetsu barked, using a wind spell that created a miniature white tornado around Ancho. It did not spin him around and neither did it catch anything, but it did trap her opponent. She used this opportunity to shoot a few fire shots into the tornado, which span around due to its magical properties and eventually broke into small pieces that launched at Ancho. The combination attack soon ended, freeing Ancho.

Using his time wisely, Ancho dashed forward, slicing through all the fire blasts that Jonetsu sent his way and once he was in range, he slashed at her with incredible force - strong enough to blow Jonetsu away. She managed to get up in time to dodge a downwards stab, using the recoil time on Ancho's stab to successfully hit him with an electric spell. It did not deal any damage, but it did paralyse him on contact.

Grinning, Jonetsu unleashed a torrent of water upon Ancho and was ready to fire a damaging electric spell to maximise health loss, but Ancho managed to snap out of his paralysis before then and was able to slice through the shot effortlessly and follow up with another forceful slash.

"How can we beat this guy?" Kyohan asked Senya.

"I do not know. I have not actually seen Ancho in battle before, so I am not aware of what he is capable of. Same goes for Jonetsu," Senya replied, who was also thinking of possible strategies _he_ could use to beat both Ancho and Teckstar. "Unfortunately, during my last encounter with these two, I only fought Teckstar. He absolutely demolished me and my friend, so I do not know much about his fighting style, either. I apologise."

"No need to be sorry, it's not really your fault. We'll just improvise," Kyohan smiled, reassuring Senya. The two returned their attention to the fight and Jonetsu was put on the defensive, as she was trying her best to evade as many sword swings as she could. She did not even have enough time to use a spell or any kind of magical attack.

Naohiro became irritated and decided to ready his bow. He aimed for the slit in Ancho's helmet, firing once he got a clear shot. It hit him dead-on. "Ow! Did you do that?" Ancho asked Jonetsu, believing it to be a trick.

"Maybe," Jonetsu smiled, knowing full well that Naohiro was the perpetrator. She used this time well and casted an earth spell - one that made three pillars of the earth rise up and continuously bounce Ancho, until the pillars went back down. Jonetsu then leapt over to Ancho's body and blasted a burst of flames that burned through Ancho's armour, damaging him every nano-second.

Jonetsu was able to keep this up, until Ancho's avatar's body smashed into pieces of a green-ish light, notifying that he had been killed. She knew that the experience from killing Ancho would go to Senya, though she was somewhat mad, she quickly found her peace.

After all, Jonetsu did not have much time to rest as Teckstar immediately sped up to her. "Well well, you managed to defeat my subordinate. It's impressive how you managed to defeat a level thirty-one tank, you level twenty-four mage," he commented, shocking her with the information he gave.

"How do ya know that I'm level twenty-four?" Jonetsu asked directly.

"Let's just say...I have resources available to me," Teckstar grinned, slashing at her with enough strength to send her to the ground and meet death. Neither Senya, Kyohan or Naohiro were surprised - Jonetsu had taken a beating from Ancho. "Who dares to challenge me next? I still have a qu-"

Teckstar was interrupted by an arrow that he narrowly avoided. "A smart guy, huh? Why don't you come here with that bow, so I can show you the same disrespect you graced me with!"

Naohiro did not respond. He only fired two bows, both of which Teckstar parried. "I'll come to you, then." Teckstar ran ahead at a great speed, catching Naohiro by surprise. Keeping his fearful grin, Teckstar slashed Naohiro as the tip of his sword glowed purple. Much to everyone but the attacker's surprise, the slash had killed Naohiro.

"I'm not even going to follow the fictional cliche of asking if you want to run away, because we all know that by killing you, you'll be far away from here," Teckstar stated. "Like the Buff that I just used? It's quite handy."

"You monster...you don't even apologise for killing them! If this were some sort of death game, you'd be a real problem...the fact still remains that you're a player killer!" Kyohan yelled. "I hate those kinds of players the most!" She launched ahead at a great speed, managing to stab Teckstar through his armour.

"Having a sense of justice means that you forgo your own safety. Can you really defend yourself as the leader of the Masa-whatever?" asked Teckstar, having sustained the damage from Kyohan's attack.

"Why do you think I'm the leader?" Kyohan refuted. She charged ahead again, going for the rushdown tactic. Teckstar saw the attack coming and blocked it. He then tried to use his free hand to punch his female opponent, but Kyohan jumped to avoid it and came right down, using her upwards dodge as extra momentum behind her stab. Teckstar still managed to parry it, but was surprised to see that a second stab was coming his way, one that he could not dodge, one that sent him backwards.

Kyohan grinned. "You think you're tough just because you think you know it all? Think again, dumbass!"

"Why you...you're really getting on my nerves!" Teckstar shouted, now becoming irritated.

"The feeling's mutual!" returned Kyohan. She dashed forward, ready to stab with the tip of her lance becoming enveloped in light green. Teckstar countered with another purple-tipped Buff from his sword. The two attacks collided, cancelling each other out and bringing recoil to both sides.

Senya saw his chance. He dashed up to the fight and used Quick Cutter to deal slight damage to Teckstar, then used Spin Slicer to deal some more damage and enough knockback to send him to the ground. This allowed Kyohan to use a downwards arching stab with the same strength increasing light green Buff as before, to pierce through Teckstar's armour and finish him off, him dying as the others did.

"Great job...Senya," panted Kyohan. "That jerk was really tough, wasn't he?"

"He was. It was a good thing we outnumbered them, that gave us the advantage we needed to win," Senya analysed. "At least we know of their styles. Should we meet them again, we'll know how to counter them."

Interrupting Kyohan, a message box appeared before Senya, notifying that he had levelled up to level four. He was then met with the stat increase screen, where he added three of the five points he was given to his health and the remainder to his speed.

"You'll need to start adding to your attack and defence stats soon. You can't live off bronze swords and leather armour," Kyohan noticed. "That's not healthy."

"I understand, but I prefer to have a comfortable standing in my favoured stats before I improve my worse areas," explained Senya, aware of Kyohan's metaphor but not referring to it.

"Fair enough. You play how you wanna play," Kyohan shrugged. "Let's just finish this quest and get outta here."

Senya accepted this order, following Kyohan as the two entered the Grey Knights' Castle and talked to Cenereus once more, finishing the quest and adding more XP to Senya as well as more gold to Kyohan.

 _3:55 PM - In-game Time_

 _Lux_

The two were then teleported back to outside the building the Squire was once in, back in the town of Lux as the virtual sun was in the middle of the sky, beaming down upon the stone city with its blazing rays.

"That was a good quest, but next time, let's try not to pick one that gets half our members killed again," Kyohan half-joked, smiling.

"It would be preferable, yes," Senya nodded. He opened his H.U.D, spotting the time in the corner. "Oh. It appears I have to log-off now."

"Huh. Well, uh, see you later then?" Kyohan asked, keeping her friendly smile.

Senya nodded. "I will indeed 'see you later'." He scrolled down to the log off button on the menu that appeared in front of him and pressed it, disappearing from the game world, leaving Kyohan alone.

 _Such a rigid person, that Senya..._ Kyohan thought, as she walked down Lux's streets. _I'll see if I can't get him to mellow out._


	7. Grey Knights' Secret

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Eyelids opened, revealing the black-haired human's blue eyes and allowing his brain to absorb the visual information of his surroundings. Such information formulated itself in his mind to tell him that he was in his bedroom, a place that he remembered to be where he was last located in the real world. The human removed the device from his head and placed it upon the bed he was lying down on - the bed had brought him countless peaceful nights and sweet dreams. However, there was one thing it could not help with.

Reality.

 _I'm assuming it is nearly dinner time,_ Senshi Pureya guessed within the confounds of his brain. He reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a modern mobile phone, noticing he had received multiple text messages from a certain friend of his. _Hitake...I do not have much time to speak to you right now, but that will not be the case later._

Senshi began typing into his phone, sending a text message that informed his best friend - Hitake Daru - that he would be free to chat after having both dinner and a shower. Hitake seemed to be content.

Moments after the brief mechanical conversation between the two, a female voice - Senshi's mother, Shurui Pureya - called out to him, informing him that dinner was in fact, ready to be eaten.

Roughly forty minutes following the moment that Senshi removed himself from his bed, the teenager was able to return to his room after having showered himself clean and filled his stomach up for hours to come. He immediately sat down on the bed and began texting his best friend.

" _Hitake, I am ready. Apologies for the wait,_ " Senshi typed into the petite screen of his mobile.

" _Cool! So, how have ya been?_ " Hitake asked, typing from the safety of his own bedroom, located somewhere else in South-Western Tokyo. " _Ever since you and that girl left, I mean._ _What happened with that, anyway?_ "

" _Oh, her. It turns out that she's the leader of a guild called the Masayoshi Hanta. They are essentially heroes of justice, going after players and likely even NPCs that do wrong. She wanted me specifically for my tactical prowess,_ " Senshi answered.

" _Never heard of them. Are they good people? They treatin' you well?_ " Hitake questioned further.

" _Yes. They are good-hearted people, though one of the members was initially suspicious of me because of a past experience they all had with a friendly guild member that turned out to be a player-killer,_ " Senshi explained, recalling what had happened to him in the virtual world recently.

" _Player-killer? Man, that's gotta suck. Oh and by the way, sorry for forgetting to teach ya where to buy things. Kinda got caught in the heat of the moment there. Didn't even expect that girl to get in our way!_ "

" _It's not a problem. That girl, Kyohan, apologised and offered to teach me in your stead. She was rather nice about it._ "

" _Wow...at least she's not as forgetful as me! Right?_ "

Senshi smiled. " _From what I know, she's not that forgetful. Anyway, before we digress, I believe your earlier texts mentioned that you had something important to tell me? What might that be?_ "

" _Huh? Oh yeah! Meet me in Ignis, I'll tell you there. Bring your guild, I really suggest you do._ "

" _Alright, the guild and I will meet you there,_ " Senshi closed his messages tab once he sent the text - likely Hitake did the same. Shooting for the AmuSphere 2.0 that he placed upon his bed earlier, the male seventeen year old attached it to his head perfectly and booted up Lapis Pugna Online.

 _4:59 PM - In-game Time_

 _Lux_

Transmitting into the same location he had logged-off in, nearly an hour prior to booting the game up, Senya looked around to affirm his surroundings. Stone buildings, electrical wires that ran over each and every building, reinforced glass roads that allowed players to see electricity flowing - Senya was still in Lux, where he and Kyohan were before he logged-off. He still had his bronze sword, shield and armour equipped.

Senya checked his friends list, where he had Kyohan, Naohiro and Jonetsu all registered under the tab 'Masayoshi Hanta'. He noticed that the text beneath their names revealed that they were all 'offline'; he guessed they were off for the same reasons he went off for. Sighing, he decided the course of action he should take would be to go to Ignis, but there were only two problems with that.

One: Senya did not know how to get to Ignis from Lux. He figured he could go to Liquidum from Lux and get to Ignis from Liquidum, using the knowledge gained from walking with the guild and Kyohan respectively to do so.

Two: The monsters are likely to be at a higher level than his measly level, which was only four. He guessed he could always run away from dangerous encounters, as to avoid death.

Despite these problems, Senya went ahead with the plans he put forth to counter said issues. The level-four player strolled over to Liquidum and took a rest in the room belonging to the Masayoshi Hanta that was labelled 'Males', to restore any of his reduced Health and Technique. Following that, Senya proceeded with the walk to Ignis, of which was mostly danger-free. Large Wasps approached him at one point, his speed was more than enough to out pace them.

 _5:08 PM - In-game Time_

 _Ignis_

Minutes later, Senya passed through the generically green Silvosus Forest and arrived at the dark-brown and dark-red coloured buildings that denoted he was within the town of Ignis. Somewhere in here, was his best friend's virtual avatar. Senya followed the beige path through the town, looking left and right to find some semblance of his friend. Eventually, it was revealed that he need not to bother searching any further - for Hitakaru had shown himself.

"Hey, so you actually made it!" the orange-haired player avatar observed, who was equipped with iron armour and a sword of the same material. "Where's your guild?"

"They're all offline right now. I imagine that they will return sometime soon," Senya answered. He quickly checked his friends list to see if anybody was online. Still nobody. "I do not seem to have you as a friend. Let me fix that." After being instructed how to utilise the friends list by Kyohan, Senya knew how to send a friend request. Hitakaru received it - he quickly accepted.

"I'm guessin' your new friends taught you that," shrugged Hitakaru, guessing correctly.

Senya nodded. "Yes, they did. I have an idea...why not join the guild as well? I am certain they will accept you."

"Nah, I'm okay. I prefer to do things solo, y'know?" Hitakaru shook his head, declining the offer. "I was kinda hopin' I could meet those guild members, but there's no point delayin' it any further. You aware of the Grey Knights?"

"Grey Knights? We helped defend them in a Mirror Quest earlier today. You should have been there, actually, because we met Teckstar and Ancho. They took the other half of the Mirror Quest and were attacking the guild. We had to fight them," Senya detailed. "Two of our people died, but Kyohan and I took victory. I digress; what were you saying?"

 _Man, they beat those guys? I gotta keep levelling up...don't wanna be left in the dust,_ Hitakaru thought, as Senya spoke. "Well, I found something pretty interestin' about them. Somethin' that shows a darker side to 'em that nobody else knows about."

"A darker side? I theorised that there was something strange about them. The colour grey that they use to identify themselves with implies neutrality, but is that a cover up to reveal their true intentions? ...Oh, I'm rambling again. Please, go ahead," Senya replied.

Hitakaru smiled, then returned to the conversation. "I literally found something. There's a secret manhole behind their castle that leads to some weird stuff. Let's go check it out!"

"I do not have anything else to do right now, so I'll prioritise this. I accept your offer, Hitakaru," Senya accepted happily. "If there's any danger, you will need to take the lead. I am still quite underleveled compared to you."

"That's okay. Just be the brains of the operation, okay?"

Senya nodded. "Of course. Shall we get a move on?"

"Heck yeah!" Hitakaru exclaimed, leading himself and Senya off the beaten path and through the game's natural areas, using the quickest possible method to reach the Grey Knights' Castle: shortcuts.

 _5:21 PM - In-game Time_

 _Outside the Grey Knights' Castle_

Once the pair started closing in on the castle (after having dealt with a few deadly foes that Senya benefited the most from, as Hitakaru allowed him to get the final hit bonus experience), they changed their course as they were not exactly where the orange-haired one desired to be. Also, there was the possibility of being sighted - this could not happen as they needed to enter silently.

Senya and Hitakaru approached the back of the castle, finding a pile of grass that did not seem to match the pattern of the rest of the grass had.

"Got it! Right here, Senya," Hitakaru whispered, moving the suspicious grass to the right; it revealed a manhole. Hitakaru removed the manhole cover, showing that there was an un-lit ladder down to some location. He quickly un-equipped his sword, as did Senya with his own sword and shield. "You go first."

Bracing himself and expecting the worst, Senya began to climb down the ladder. Hitakaru followed suit, closing the cover as he entered. Darkness filed their eyes. Both of them had only their sense of touch to guide them downwards, to where their feet finally touched the ground and not another metal ladder piece. Through a doorway and the two were then in a small, regular bricked room with a black floor, a door on the other side of the room and a window on the left wall.

Hitakaru slowly stepped over to the window, using a nearby box to see through it. Senya shrugged and did the same; on the other side of the window were plentiful tables in a room of the exact same materials as the one the pair were currently in, except there were more tables lined with potions and seemingly random items. There were even two bookshelves filled with books, the names of which they could not make out.

"You have any idea what this is, Senya?" Hitakaru asked his best friend. He was not stumped, merely curious as to what the black-haired one had to say.

Senya took another glance at the room, then responded. "Judging by the glass bottles with coloured liquids in them, I can guess that they are potions. If that is the case, this room must be some sort of magic training room of some description. I do not see what is so...important about this."

"That's what I thought, too. But then I looked over to that room there..." Hitakaru pointed to the window to the right of the room they were staring into. It was not clear and they could not see much, but there was clear and visible blood. "That just freaked me out."

Needless to say, Senya was surprised. "Blood? What is that all about? What could this imply...could they be performing unethical experiments in there?"

"Who knows...except us. Let's see if we can get in there," Hitakaru insisted, going to break the glass with his iron sword. However, a force froze the two players. A mage in large, black robes that covered practically their entire body - including their face - used a magical spell to hold the the duo in place.

"You should not be here...turn around and leave this place immediately," the mage spoke, with a deep feminine voice.

Hitakaru did not appreciate this. Despite not being able to move, he could still speak. "No way...you guys have gotta be doing something in there...we need to know!"

"No, you don't...nobody outside needs to know. It is our business," the mage responded. "Leave now or I will eliminate you."

"Like I said...no way!" Hitakaru grunted, using an item from his inventory that healed his paralysis. He used another one on Senya, freeing him from the same state. Even though they had countered the paralysis, the mage was not surprised. "Take me on!"

Senya held Hitakaru back. "It is not wise to remain here, Hitakaru. We do not know what this person can do. If we want to come back, we will return with a plan. A stronger force, perhaps. It is only luck that you had...whatever item it was to counteract that paralysis."

"But..." Hitakaru tried to say, before being cut off by his doubt.

The mage remained silent in all this. It looked as if she was harmless, though Senya could tell there was something more to her. Hitakaru sighed.

"Fine," the orange-haired player spoke. "Let's go, Senya." He walked out of the room and back to the ladder, with Senya following right behind. Back up the ladder and returning to the outside, the pair made sure that the Grey Knights' Castle was far in the distance.

 _5:26 PM - In-game Time_

Away from whatever danger lied in the Grey Knights' Castle's basement, Senya and Hitakaru needed to talk. A lot of things were on their mind, all about what they just discovered.

"We need to come back stronger," Hitakaru suggested. "If we level up, we'll be strong enough to take everyone in there out. Then we can find out their secret."

"That is an acceptable plan, but we will require allies - people that can back us up should be need the assistance. We will also have extra firepower, which is likely to give the guild more trouble. Luckily, the people in the Masayoshi Hanta guild are strong...it cannot hurt to become a little bit stronger," Senya added, agreeing with the base plan Hitakaru put forth. "What bothers me the most is that the mage did not take us out. She could have easily killed us when she had the chance."

"Really? Why's that?"

Senya paused, then continued talking. "I am betting that the mage is an NPC. If that is true, then she must have been designed in a certain way...her robes covering her body gives her a mysterious vibe. No character is that mysterious and is not a threat. It does not make sense. So if she is as strong as her design implies, then she could have had the power to eliminate us right there and then. But she chose not to."

"And you're concerned about that?"

"Yes. That suggests she has something planned for us next time we attempt to snatch that secret. What exactly that is, I do not know - this is why we will need allies, so if one of us falls, we will still have a strong force to press on forwards."

"Oh...good idea! Let's just level up as fast as we can, because who knows what the Grey Knights have planned!"

"Exactly!" Senya agreed, smiling. He checked his friends list and found that the other three Masayoshi Hanta guild members were finally online. "They are online. Would you like to come with me to meet them and explain our plan?"

"Nah. I've got some levelling to do," Hitakaru shook his head. "I guess this is where I say I'll see you later."

"We will meet later, Hitakaru. Message me if something important like this comes up."

"I sure will. See ya!" The orange-haired, iron armour-wearing player avatar marched away from the scene, determined to gain more levels to become stronger and lay a total beatdown on the Grey Knights and their secret. Senya shared this determination, as he strolled back to Ignis from where he was and followed the path back to Liquidum, meeting the guild he desperately needed to talk to.


	8. The Need for Spells

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

"I apologise for my absence," Senya apologised, bowing in respect to the other three members of the Masayoshi Hanta guild. They were sitting inside one room of the guild's headquarters, located in the left side of Liquidum. "It seems like I have to explain myself."

Kyohan was confused. "Why do you have to be so intense about it? It's not like you did anything wrong," she affirmed. Her mind instantly jumped to the mission she gave herself. _Maybe I can lighten him up here..._

"No, but I should have been here either way," Senya stated. "My friend, Hitakaru, informed me about something peculiar he found that related to the Grey Knights. Something that reveals a possible darker side to them."

"Really? The Grey Knights?" Jonetsu asked, doubtful. "What sorta stuff was it?"

"He found a manhole and when we climbed down it, we were met with a compact room with a locked door at the end of it. There were also windows that allowed us to see what the surrounding rooms harboured - there were lots of potions and other magical equipment," detailed Senya. "However, the element that surprised me the most...in another room, was blood."

Upon hearing the word 'blood', the other members of the guild jolted backwards slightly in shock and their eyes widened in fear, momentarily.

"Blood? Are ya sure?" Jonetsu questioned further. She was convinced that what Senya was saying was true.

"Yes," Senya nodded. "Blood. Pure blood. It seemed dry, but it was difficult to tell through mere glass. I would have to be able to touch it in order to truthfully tell if it was wet."

Jonetsu and Naohiro were convinced, but Kyohan was not quite there yet. "Usually, training rooms for mages and alchemists look just as you described, Senya...though the blood part is what confuses me. Are you sure you just didn't see a spillage of a potion or something?" She asked, to confirm.

"I know what blood looks like. While yes, it can be possible that it is a red herring - if we do not act upon it and attempt to learn their secrets, I fear that we would be letting them perform unethical acts," Senya refuted. "We must infiltrate those rooms and discover what the Grey Knights are keeping from the rest of the game. It will be a difficult task..."

"Why exactly will it be difficult? I'm pretty sure we can just use an Invisibility spell to stay out of sight," Kyohan suggested, folding her arms. "Jonetsu, do you know one?"

"Nope, sorry!" the red-haired mage of the group shrugged. "I only know attack spells and the ones that can teleport ya."

"Right...thanks anyway," Kyohan sighed. Then, her mind seemed to light up with an idea. "Let's just use magic scrolls!"

Senya stood there, trying to formulate an idea of what the scrolls could be. "Do they contain spells? Similar to a container, how they can carry physical objects," he guessed.

Kyohan nodded. "Yep! That's exactly what they do. Use one and the spell will be used; the only problem is, spells from scrolls are not as powerful as spells that come straight from a mage, so if we want to use one...we'll have to use it only when it is needed."

"I see...of course there has to be limitations..." Senya noted in his mind. "Is it possible to somehow 'power-up' these scroll spells?"

At this point, Jonetsu spoke up. "There's an NPC that can make a mage's spell stronger, but I dunno about scrolls," she mentioned. "Think his name is...the Spellmaster?"

"Oh yeah, the Spellmaster. We haven't used his services yet, but there's always a first for everything," Kyohan added. "What do you think, Senya?"

Senya had been theorising and planning to himself, indicating that he is doing so by placing his hand on his chin. "It's worth doing. Whenever there is a possibility to achieve something you wish to attain, always go for it, no matter the odds. Where is the Spellmaster stationed?"

"At...Glacio Field, probably," Jonetsu answered with an unsure look on her face. "That's where I heard he was. He's probably also in a cave that'll be obvious when we see it, if what I heard is real."

"And where is Glacio Field?" Senya continued.

"Pretty far. If we just go north in a straight line, we'll get to it. It'll just take a lotta time," Jonetsu replied, pointing to her right.

Senya nodded. "Good. Then let's buy those scrolls and get to Glacio Field as quick as possible. More time we waste equals more time for the Grey Knights to resume operation."

With a shared nod and a surge of determination, the Masayoshi Hanta guild left their headquarters and made for the Magic shop in Liquidum. Kyohan approached the counter as she had the guild's funds and bought an Invisibility Scroll, along with an Unlock Scroll and a Warp to Spawn Point Scroll.

"Why d'you buy those scrolls? I thought we were just doin' up that Invisibility Scroll?" Jonetsu asked, as the guild strolled towards the town's entrance.

"Since it's a high profile guild that we're going to be sneaking into, I thought it'd make sense that we'd need a spell that can break any sort of lock. The Warp to Spawn Point one is just in case whoever's doing the sneaking needs to get out of there quickly," explained Kyohan. "Just so we're prepared."

Once everyone's minds were put to rest, the Masayoshi Hanta guild departed from their home town and started following the game's designated pathway, passing through other towns and villages in order to reach whatever would be Glacio Field.

 _6:40 PM - In-game Time_

 _Glacio Field_

Approaching a region that looked similar to the North/South Poles in real life except with more land and some frozen water, the Masayoshi Hanta guild members had their attention turned to a monster in the distance that was as tall as a quarter of an average skyscraper and was coloured white. The more experienced players were able to identify it.

"An Ice Giant..." Kyohan identified, staring deeply at the large monster in the distance. She turned to Senya. "What's the game plan?"

Senya froze, thinking of an effective strategy to defeat the Ice Giant. "How does experience sharing work in this game?" He asked, thawing out of his current state of thought.

"Why does that matter?" Kyohan wondered. Even now, she was not used to Senya's thinking patterns.

"Because I am aware that some of our levels can do with minor improvements, so I am merely planning a way of raising them all effectively," Senya answered. "If I remember correctly, Jonetsu is only Level 24, Naohiro is Level 26 and I am still only Level 4. I think it is quite obvious that I need the most work."

"That's fair...anyway, experience is given out based on how much successful hits you deal on a monster," Kyohan started to explain. "Specifically, the amount of experience you get mostly depends on what monster you're fighting, so you can't get the same amount of XP from fighting a basic Rat as you do an...Ice Giant, for example."

"Excellent. That fits in well with my plan," Senya declared, seeming to put on a faint grin that Kyohan managed to pick up on. "Naohiro, how many arrows do you have?"

"My inventory mostly has arrows in it. Do you plan to use me?" Naohiro returned.

"Yes," Senya replied. "You and Jonetsu will fire at the Ice Giant from a distance to get its attention while I will start slashing at its back. If it starts to target me, I'll need Jonetsu to paralyse it somehow. Perhaps use that tornado spell that you used on Ancho earlier today, or something more effective. Once it is paralysed, we will continue to attack it until it gets out of its trap. I will move away so it targets you two and when it does, I will return to my position. Repeat those steps and victory shall be ensured."

Naohiro and Jonetsu both nodded, understanding the plan. Kyohan however, noticed somebody was missing during that plan explanation. "What about me?" the green-haired player questioned.

"You will be back-up. In the unlikely possibility that it happens, you will take the place of that person and charge in, using your strength and speed to confuse the giant and strike it down," Senya filled her in. "Any more questions?"

Silence.

"Good. Let us get into position," Senya commanded, leading the guild's members towards the Ice Giant. Naohiro and Jonetsu stood in front of the monster and gathered its attention, shooting arrows and fireballs to make it start approaching them. Then, Senya started slashing the giant with all the pathetic might and speed a Level 4 newbie like him could have.

Just like his plan entailed, the Ice Giant turned around to focus on Senya once its health reached to approximately three quarters. Jonetsu fired an Always-Paralysing Spear spell, doing exactly as its name implied - freezing the Ice Giant in place. The tactician, the archer and the mage began to fire an onslaught of their respective attacks until the moment their enemy broke out of the paralysis, where Senya leapt away from the scene so that the giant returned its focus to Naohiro and Jonetsu. At this point, the plan repeated itself.

It would do so constantly, until the beast was finally downed and the experience was given to each player. Naohiro and Jonetsu both managed to level up by one - the former increased his Defence, Health and Ranged stats; the latter increasing only her Magic. Senya on the other hand, thanks to his low levels only having a small amount of experience needed to rise, levelled up by three to Level 7. This gave him fifteen points to utilise.

He thought carefully and increased his Attack by five and his Speed by ten. Unfortunately, no notifications telling him that he could use the next tier of weapons appeared, not to his dismay however. The three warriors returned to their guild leader, proud of their work.

"Good job, you guys! If we just do more stuff like that, we'll all be at equal levels in no time!" Kyohan encouraged, smiling. "I gotta say Senya, that plan of yours really makes me more faithful in your ability to lead us in combat situations!" Secretly, she hoped Senya would show some true emotion to her praise.

Though that was not the case, as Senya merely nodded. "Thank you, Kyohan. Now I suppose it is time to get to the Spellmaster," he reminded.

 _Damn it...I'll crack him somehow,_ Kyohan thought to herself, irritated at Senya's lack of social emotion. She did not allow herself to visually represent this information, though. "Yeah, we're ready. As long as no other monsters approach us...Jonetsu, you said he's in a cave, right?"

"Yep, I sure did," Jonetsu nodded.

"Awesome, because I think I see it way over there," Kyohan responded, pointing towards a visible cave not too far off leftwards. "Let's check it out, at least."

With the others accepting this decision, the Masayoshi Hanta guild marched towards the cave, their feet trampling the snow-paved ground. There were monsters along the way, but it was decided not to tackle them as to not lose focus on their true goal. In time, the members arrived at the cave's entrance and opened the door, which led to a set of stairs that ended into a small ice-cave with an aged elder NPC meditating at an ice seat that seemed like it was carved.

This NPC registered the players' entrance. "Travellers. Do you wish to have your spells strengthened by me, the Spellmaster?"

"Yeah," Kyohan nodded, doing the talking. "I have one question before anything else happens."

"What might that be?" the Spellmaster asked.

"Is it possible for you to use your powering-up ability on scrolls?" Kyohan answered with a question.

"That is entirely possible by me...however, it will cost more than if you were to bring me a regular spell," Spellmaster explained, continuing through his script. "This is done so that travellers do not bypass the need to train magic."

 _A countermeasure...to prevent his services from being unfair,_ Senya noted.

"Good. Then could you do your work on these two scrolls, please?" continued Kyohan. She equipped the Unlock and the Invisibility Scrolls, handing them to the Spellmaster.

"What level of power would you like these scrolls to be at?" Spellmaster asked.

Kyohan raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What do you mean by 'level of power'?" she questioned in curiosity.

"There are multiple levels of power each magical spell can have. Level 1 is the weakest while Level 5 is the highest, but Level 1 is what all basic-level spells start off at," Spellmaster detailed. "Level 2 for each of these scrolls is 3000 gold, Level 3 is 4500, Level 4 is 6000 and Level 5 is 7500."

Having been presented with this information, Kyohan was forced to do some mathematics. _7500 multiplied by two equals...15000 gold in total?! But our funds are only 26750 after buying these scrolls and replacements for Naohiro and Jonetsu! ...Is this really worth it?_ She turned to Senya temporarily, who was showing no emotion in his eyes. _We do need this money to pay for rent and items, but he doesn't look like the kind of person that lies...if the Grey Knights really are an evil guild and I refuse to get proof of it, we'll miss out. I can't let any sort of injustice go away like that! I'll do it!_

Kyohan wipped out exactly 15000 gold from her inventory and gave it all to the Spellmaster. Despite being filled with determination, she was able to at least keep the emotion somewhat bottled up. "Here, do your work," she spoke.

Without another word, the Spellmaster opened each of the two scrolls and fired what looked like intense purple electricity into them, which filled the scrolls with said purple energy and successfully strengthened them. Spellmaster then returned the scrolls to Kyohan once the process had been finished.

"Do you require anything else?" Spellmaster asked.

Kyohan shook her head. "Nope. Thank you, sir!" She thanked, going back to her guild's members. This allowed the Spellmaster to revert to his idle meditation state, waiting for someone else to reactive his script. "Okay, let's get outta here."

"I got it!" Jonetsu announced, equipping herself with a piece of chalk and a spell book. She drew a circle around her friends with the chalk and began to read the book. Eventually, magical energy flowed from the book and surrounded the circle, warping the Masayoshi Hanta guild members to a pre-determined location and erasing the chalk circle.

 _7:02 PM - In-game Time_

 _Masayoshi Hanta Guild HQ, Women's Bedroom_

Thanks to Jonetsu's Warp to Spawn Point spell usage, she and her fellow guild members reappeared in their guild's headquarters, but next to the bed nearest to the window in the girl's bedroom. Senya guessed it belonged to Jonetsu.

"Alright, time to discuss who's going to be infiltrating the Grey Knights," Kyohan initiated. She turned to the silver-haired player beside her. "Naohiro, do you want to do it?"

"No. I'm not the best at stealth," Naohiro revealed, sitting down on the opposite bed - Kyohan's.

Kyohan then turned to the red-haired one. "Jonetsu, how about you?" She continued.

"Nuh-uh. Ya know my memory's really bad, I'd forget what I'm doin'," Jonetsu refused, shaking her head.

The leader of the guild was not pleased with these answers, but accepted them as legit as she already knew what the two members told her. _How about you..._ she thought, before finishing her sentence aloud. "Senya?"

"If nobody else wants to do it, then I will do it," Senya accepted, though not until he pointed out something. "What about you, Kyohan? Or even Hitakaru, my friend?"

"Come on, it'll make sense if you do it because you're the only one out of us that knows what the place looks like! For the most part, anyway," Kyohan persuaded. "That guy? Not to be rude, but he didn't seem like the smartest guy around. I know we can depend on you, because you're the most well put together out of us."

Without showing any sort of emotion in his eyes or the entirety of his face, Senya answered. "If that is true, I shall do it."

 _Damn it again...it's almost like he knows what I'm doing. But he can't, unless he's that good of an analyst,_ Kyohan realised, growing slightly more irritated. "Thanks, Senya." She gave over the three scrolls, which Senya added to his inventory.

Senya walked towards the door and left, without saying another word. It left an awkward vibe in the room, though it was one that only Kyohan could feel. She sat on Jonetsu's bed, with the owner of the bed accompanying her.

"You think we can trust him?" Jonetsu proposed, speaking to both of them.

"It's not like we can't trust him, he's already shown that trust isn't an issue...I'm wondering if all this has an actual use," Kyohan admitted. "I just don't want this to be a false signal. It better not be an easter egg or something like that."

"From what I could tell, it looked like Senya was being sincere when he told us about it," Naohiro spoke up, theorising. "But he could also be a really good actor. It's hard to tell with that guy..."

Kyohan nodded. "That's his problem. He has a great mind, but he can't seem to find any room for social interaction in there. I wonder why that is..."

As the conversation between the three original members of the Masayoshi Hanta faded into another, Senya was on his way to the Grey Knights Castle, ready to finally see what secrets the NPC guild has locked inside.


	9. Searching Forbidden Grounds

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Determined to successfully infiltrate the potentially black-hearted Grey Knights, Senya inched closer to the narrow well's floor. He climbed down the latter, doing his absolute best to make as little noise as possible. To make sure of this, Senya slowly planted his feet and hands on each of the ladder steps - while this did take longer, he was not necessarily in a race against time. Or maybe he was.

Either way, the black-haired Level 7 player of Lapis Pugna Online was able to get down the ladder without any problems. Before taking any sort of immediate action, Senya got the powered-up Invisibility Scroll from his inventory and used it. He turned completely invisible, as the name implied, but he could still feel himself. It wasn't as if he were removed from existence.

Once he utilised the scroll, Senya darted for the window in the left wall of the room he had been in previously with Hitakaru. Using a table as a means to see what was beyond the window, his previous discoveries were still there: potions, tables and the blood in the other room though this time, Senya spotted a trail of the red substance that was connected to the splatter he found before.

 _A trail...something was dragged in that room. But what, exactly?_ Senya wondered. He inspected the blood-filled room and found that there was no wall towards the right. Upon noticing this, his eyes shot straight to the lone, steel door. _That door must lead to that mysterious room. My chances of learning the Grey Knights' secrets beyond that door shall dramatically increase._ Senya speedily tip-toed his way over to the door, finding that it had an incredibly strong lock that he could not break.

Normally. With the use of the powered-up Unlock Scroll, the door became usable. _Excellent. But I cannot let these minor victories get the best of me - I must be on guard at all times,_ Senya told himself. Past the door and into the bloody room he went and surely, he found something interesting. A quick inspection of the trail led to a discovery of a dark room towards the right that looked like it was carved into the wall.

Inside the room was a huge amount of blood splashed onto the tubular walls and circular floor. As with the ladder well, the black and red room stretched up to the surface, but was covered by something. Only faint rays of light shone through the holes in the covering.

 _That must be a trap of sorts. It is exactly the same height as the ladder well and judging by the fact that this room is positioned outwards to the right, it has to connect to the surface. Those light rays make this a lot more obvious,_ Senya theorised. _It is almost as if they were trying to make it this clear that there is a trap but since there is blood here, someone or something must have fallen down here. Either that, or someone from the guild led their victims to that spot up there. It is difficult to say...I will need some more evidence._

Cutting into his train of thought, a sound of a door closing got Senya's attention. A human scientist - presumably an NPC - passed through one of the previous room's doors and approached a piece of wood towards the far end, next to the original blood splatter. The scientist lifted the piece of wood, revealing it to be a hatch and ventured downwards into whatever chamber was there. Seeing an opportunity, Senya followed the scientist and began treading down the stairs at a slow pace.

 _Secrets beyond secrets...the fact that this stairway is becoming progressively darker proves that there must be something of worth down here. They have to be doing something unethical...if they are not, then this whole process is meaningless. Yet, I carry on._

 _7:24 PM - In-game Time_

 _Beneath the Grey Knights' Castle's basement_

Exactly half a minute passed until Senya began to see something other than darkness. Walls changed their colour to white-grey as light refilled the teenager's vision and as the flight of stairs ended in a compact room with two doors further down the left and right walls. At the far end of the chamber was a thin couch that spread out across the room's tight length. As Senya was only some short steps away from reaching the ground, he started to see green-tinted windows.

He had to explore this area. _What is this location? Its visual style greatly contrasts with the medieval look of the castle itself. I suppose I should just see if these windows will reveal anything that answers my question,_ Senya noticed. He approached the left window first, as it was the closest one.

Through the green view the window provided, a disturbing sight was found. Several non-player character scientists appeared to be operating on a human body that was _very clearly_ open and overflowing with blood. The scientists all had masks and gloves on them, as if they were surgeons. As time passed, Senya began to link the visuals of the room to a doctor's operating room, mixed with a scientific laboratory - the latter was due to the peculiar machines that the room had.

 _An operation? This has to be linked to the copious amounts of blood in the basement..._ Senya guessed to himself. He wasn't even fazed by this sight - he kept his blank face visible the entire time, like an emotionless doll. More seconds of blank staring passed, until Senya directed his eyes and body to the opposite window.

Inside the room the window connected to was...almost the exact same thing as in the room Senya was looking at seconds earlier. Almost; because instead, the scientists were analysing a body that was strapped to a machine that was clearly doing something. Precisely what that something is was another mystery.

 _Just what is happening? What are they doing to those people? It must be some sort of human experimentation..._ Senya thought, trying to think of any possible thing that the scientists were doing. As he thought, a cloaked figure stared at him - luckily enough, the windows allowed Senya to know this and turn around, seeing someone he and Hitakaru met some hours ago.

 _That non-player character mage again...why is she looking in this direction? Can she see me?_ wondered Senya. He checked himself momentarily, reaffirming his thought that he was still invisible. The magic meter that appeared in the top right corner of the menu when Senya commanded it to appear confirmed this too, stating that he only had two minutes left of the effect. _No, she cannot...unless she is self aware and is looking into the game's code to know that I am here._

As Senya began thinking of more theories as to how the mage might be able to break the invisibility status, the cloaked magic user NPC snapped her fingers, warping the pair of them to outside the back of the Grey Knights' Castle. Senya's invisibility status dissipated completely and, as he found out moments after, the accompanying Invisibility Scroll also disappeared from his inventory.

Despite all this, Senya was not frustrated or confused. He understood perfectly well what happened and why it occurred. "Before we start, I need you to tell me exactly how you were able to know I was there, even though I used a spell that should prevent anybody from doing so," Senya demanded, folding his arms and keeping up his blank face.

The feminine mage audibly smirked. "I am the epitome of all sorcerers. Stronger and more knowledgeable than any other magic user you will find in this world," she claimed. "Invisibility spells are a mere obstacle for me."

"I gathered you were that strong. Now, tell me what sort of experiments were being undergone down in those laboratories," continued Senya.

Another smirk. "Humans are so weak. We all lack functions and have limitations that hold us back," the mage detailed. "Normal people would never understand the sort of work we do. However, I can tell...you're not like most people, are you?"

"No. I do not see why I should be," Senya stated.

A faint outline of a jaw could be seen from the mage's cloak. "I could easily capture you. Either for my own purposes, or for the Grey Knights' research. You're such an interesting soul...though, I feel compelled to let you go."

"And why would you do that?"

The jaw's bone seemed to move upwards slightly. "Because I know you'll be back. You'll be stronger. That's when we shall have our true encounter," the mage returned. She teleported again after finishing her speech, leaving Senya to ponder his next course of action. Though, that was not difficult to figure out.

 _Whoever that NPC is, she clearly desires to fight me. She works with the guild and likely knows what is going on in those laboratories, so whether I wish to or not...I will have to take her on in combat,_ Senya realised. He equipped his Warp to Spawn Point Scroll. _I must tell the others._

Senya used his scroll, becoming surrounded by pink-purple mystical energy and eventually teleporting to a certain location far off in the distance. He wouldn't forget what he saw down there; not because he was surprised or afraid, because it would be disadvantageous if he did.

 _7:39 PM - In-game Time_

 _Masayoshi Hanta HQ, Males' Bedroom_

Landing next to his bed in the males' room belonging to the Masayoshi Hanta guild's headquarters, Senya knew he was no longer in a dangerous location. He considered the headquarters to be his base, exactly as a HQ should be for its guild members. Senya felt safe there, more so whenever his fellow guild members were around.

Good thing too, as Naohiro was sitting on his bed, still in his leather armour but not having equipped his bow at all. He was pleasantly surprised to see Senya return so soon.

"Oh, you're back? I'll get the others," Naohiro observed, leaving the room. He returned seconds later with Kyohan and Jonetsu, who were in the room next door. "There he is. He seems to be fine, no scratches on him or anything."

 _If he took a lot of damage, he probably wouldn't flinch,_ Kyohan thought to herself before speaking aloud. "How did it go, Senya? What did you find?"

"I was able to explore more of the basement and in doing so, I came across something quite interesting, perhaps even disturbing," Senya explained, recounting what he had been through. "Looking through one window, I was able to observe an operation on a human body that a group of scientists were working on. In another window, more scientists had another human strapped to a machine. I was not able to find out why they were doing this, though before I even had the opportunity to do so, a non-player character mage had somehow sighted me and used a teleportation spell to bring us to the back of the castle."

"From there, the mage vaguely explained what was going on. It is a possibility she can see into the future, as she predicted me returning to challenge her. Either that, or she has the mind of a great tactician," Senya added. "And that is all."

Kyohan, Naohiro and Jonetsu were shocked. "Operations? Who knew the Grey Knights had access to such technology? I thought they were an older-styled guild," Naohiro commented.

"That's pretty weird. Ya don't think they're makin' robots outta people now, are they?" Jonetsu asked, somewhat afraid.

Kyohan was able to notice her friend's wavering confidence. "Hey, don't worry. I won't let them touch you, okay Jonetsu? I won't let them get to any of my guild's members," she reassured, smiling.

Jonetsu was now able to wipe away her fear and replace it with a delightful smile. "Thanks Kyohan. You're a damn fine leader and friend," she thanked.

"I'm glad I could help," Kyohan returned. She began to focus on the elephant in the room. "Senya. Are you certain that you saw human bodies in those labs?"

"Yes. I can only guess that what I saw was a small percentage of their work," Senya answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Because this all fits in with something. Senya, you won't know this, but do you guys remember the story about those players that disappeared from the game?" Kyohan brought up, talking to the other two members of her guild.

"Yes," Naohiro spoke up. "The one where lone players reportedly went missing from people's friend lists, if I recall correctly. Lapis Pugna's developers stated that the accounts were banned, though they were rather cryptic about it. Those crazy comments...conspiracy theories arose. Why mention this now?"

"Isn't it possible that the bodies Senya saw being operated on are those banned players?" Kyohan suggested, shrugging and spreading out her arms to show that she wasn't too sure of her own idea. "It makes some sort of sense, doesn't it?"

Something clicked in Senya's mind. A click of realisation. "Before the mage disappeared, she mentioned 'humans are so weak' and described herself as if she was some kind of overly-powerful sorcerer. It might be that the mage is a result of the experiments that the scientists were running."

"Akin to mutation?" Naohiro questioned, understanding the theory.

"Precisely that. But why they would use actual players is beyond me at this point...should this not create controversy? Are the banned players under a non-disclosure agreement and so the truth is being locked away from us?" Senya rhetorically asked.

"Wait, wouldn't those players be feelin' the operations?" Jonetsu raised an eyebrow.

Kyohan sighed. "The players were banned, so they were immediately kicked out of the game. It is strange how we haven't heard from them...like Senya said, they're likely under an NDA from the developers. I'm sure they're not that psychotic. Why would they hurt those players, controlling them like some sort of god?"

At this, Senya frowned for a split second and turned around quickly after he did. Kyohan, as observant as she is, noticed the frown. Naohiro and Jonetsu were too busy thinking about the situation to even realise that Senya turned as speedily as he did. _You cracked...you've truly shown some social emotion, Senya. But why now? What about this situation got you to do that? I suppose I'll find out at a later time,_ Kyohan thought.

"We will need to act fast, but not too fast," Senya stated, facing the glass wall opposite the door and away from his guild members. "We need to grow stronger before we tackle the Grey Knights. Our levels need to rise. Our stats need to grow. We as players, must improve. Otherwise, we will never be able to solve that guild's secrets and save those banned players, if that theory turns out to be true."

Everyone agreed. Now that things had reached its peak, Naohiro decided to check the in-game time by bringing up the menu and looking at the top left corner of his view. "Heh, that works out well. Time for me to log-off," he spoke.

"Yeah, me too," Jonetsu added, after checking the time herself.

Kyohan revealed that it was time for her to do the same. Seeing an opportunity, she scrolled down to the log-off button at the bottom of the menu and had her finger hover over it. "Let's log-off on the count of three," she suggested. The other two got to the same point as their leader, their fingers barely touching their menu. "One, two..."

"Three!" She pressed her log-off button at the same time Naohiro and Jonetsu did. The latter pair disappeared from the game world and returned to reality, only Kyohan did not. She instead pressed the options button, which was directly above the log-off button.

Senya knew Kyohan would do this. He still could not contain his frown and refused to show the leader of the Masayoshi Hanta guild. "Why did you not join them?" His voice lowered to true monotone.

"Because I was concerned about you," Kyohan answered, with a tone of voice that matched her claimed feelings. "I care for my guild members, no, my friends. I have already connected with Jonetsu and Naohiro, but I still don't know much about you. One thing I do know about you is your personality: you have none. So the fact that you frowned just now...it came to me as strange."

A pause. "So it did," Senya replied. "You should not care for me. Others will hurt you...purely out of their hate for me. Hitakaru's helped me in that regard, but - oh no."

"What?" Kyohan asked, referring to Senya's sudden interruption of himself. "What's wrong?"

Senya did not reply. Instead, he checked his friends list and found that Hitakaru was no longer there. Along with anger that had already filled his mind, fear started to seep in. Knowing the next best thing to do, Senya immediately went for the log-off button and logged out before Kyohan could prevent him from doing so.

 _He's gotta be okay...I guess I'll see him tomorrow,_ Kyohan ended. Finally, she hit her own log-off button and returned to reality. But not without worry.

 _9:46 PM - Real World Time_

 _Northern Kyoto, Kyohan's Bedroom_

Within the limitations of reality, Kyohan Hato awoke from her bed in her parents' compact apartment in Northern Kyoto. She removed her AmuSphere 2.0 and put it on her bedside table, making sure none of the wires were left on her bed. Her door was on the left wall, it was closed and her relatively small room with the bed in the furthest corner away from the door, television and chair in the middle and computer with a computer desk in the corner opposite her bed; it was all where she last left it. Same with her plain light blue shirt, plain black leggings, white bra and undergarments.

At least, Kyohan thought it was. She didn't really care all that much, as long as she hadn't been robbed. As she tucked herself in, ready to sleep, her mind drifted to Senya.

 _He's certainly unique, in the sense that even though he doesn't show emotion, you still know he's a good person because of his actions,_ Kyohan began to think. _To see someone like that act the way he just did...something must have hurt him. I need to get him to talk to me._

With that scheme in mind, Kyohan slowly drifted to sleep.


	10. Beginning the Arduous Journey

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Proceeding an average Friday's worth of schooling - full of lessons, break and going home - Kyohan Hato, a green haired Japanese girl living in Northern Kyoto and a keen player of video games, passed by her loving parents and darted for her medium-small bedroom. With a kind of determination or concern (perhaps both) in her steps, Kyohan threw her school bag to the side of her bed and immediately put on her AmuSphere 2.0.

"Link start!" Kyohan commanded. This choice of words forced the Amusphere 2.0 to boot up, initiating the usual visual booting sequence and loading the virtual reality world of Lapis Pugna Online. _Senya better be on right now..._

 _9:50 AM - In-game Time_

 _Liquidum Town, Masayoshi Hanta Guild Headquarters_

Kyohan's virtual avatar, that she lazily named after herself, formed in the place where it was last located: in the males' bedroom of the Masayoshi Hanta guild. She did not realise this until she completely materialised and once the long-haired player did, she prayed to herself that a...situation would not occur.

Luckily for her and everyone else that could possibly be involved, only Senya was in the room, sitting on his bed with his leather armour equipped but not his Bronze Sword. He had his blank, emotionless expression - it was difficult to tell what he was feeling, if anything at all. However, Kyohan already knew Senya, so this did not come as a surprise. She was ready.

"Senya," Kyohan started, folding her arms and taking a serious tone of voice. "What happened after you logged off?"

The black-haired player did not respond right away. "Nothing occurred. I merely had to stop playing the game, that is all."

"That's a load of crap. I'm not an idiot, Senya," the female one returned. She started to walk towards the emotional seventeen year old. "Nobody reacts like that and then it all turns out to be okay. Something went down; you need to tell me what."

"Nothing occurred," Senya repeated in a monotone voice. He kept up his blank expression, even when Kyohan punched him in the face out of frustration. Such a punch left a small bruise on his cheek but thanks to the rules of the game, his HP did not lower. "I see. It must be that you are truly serious about this and it may not be the best course of action to continue to refuse your will any further. Fine, I shall give you what you desire."

Kyohan seemed pleased. She sat down on Naohiro's bed as Senya began telling a story of sorts. "It began once I realised something was wrong."

* * *

Senshi Pureya awoke from the mental state of immersion he was in and quickly removed the AmuSphere 2.0 from his skull. Without thinking of anything else, he grabbed his phone from the bedside table and opened the 'contacts' screen. Clicking once on Hitake's name, Senshi began furiously typing away at the virtual keyboard, slowing his fingers enough for his text to not be scrambled. He eventually managed to type out the message: "Hitake, are you there?"

When a fifth minute passed, Senshi got a reply. "i'm here, senshi. what's up?" When he saw the text appear on the petite screen, he visibly smiled. Unfortunately for anyone else and fortunately for himself, nobody saw the smile - even if it was only for a second.

"I would say things are at an acceptable state at my end, but that is not the case. We will need to talk in person, at school. Rendevouz with me in the boy's bathroom at break-time."

"sure thing. see you there."

With that, Senshi took himself to his natural desire of sleep. Although he was assured that his best friend was okay, there was still a part of him that feared what could happen in tomorrow's wake. Whatever it would be, he would have to approach it head on; there was no alternative.

In the morning, Senshi went through the daily ritual of brushing his teeth and having breakfast before venturing out towards South-Western Tokyo High School. Along the way, he felt a pain in his chest. He had to stop to ponder this feeling.

 _What is this...?_ Senshi wondered. _This pain...it is as if I am being stabbed with thousands of knives, though I am not losing energy in my legs. I can keep walking, I am not in shock and I am not - ah. I am anxious, that is what this feeling is. I have not felt such a feeling before. It is...frightening. Like I am gaining a penchant for the idea to retreat. Though, that is not what I want. I desire to know Hitake's virtual fate. If I retreat, I would deny myself that desire. Doing that would only prolong the desire - it would not go away, so I should keep walking._

Keeping his thoughts close to himself, Senshi made his away into the school grounds and immediately found his way to his first lesson, approximately ten minutes before it started. As it was Mathematics, a subject he was confident in, Senshi did not feel the need to do any sort of studying prior to the start of the lesson. He allowed time to pass and eventually, the lesson went by as a blur - as did the second lesson. It was almost as if time was going at an increased pace.

Proceeding the second lesson, break-time emerged and washed over the mind and spirits of the school's pupils. Senshi knew what this meant - Hitake should be in the male bathroom, if not he must be going towards it. Not needing to take a deep breath since he could calm himself alone, Senshi approached the bathroom door and passed straight through it. The bathroom was fairly simple: mirrors on the right side with sinks beneath them, urinals to the left and numerous cubicles towards the furthest end of the room.

Hitake was nowhere to be found. Senshi was not concerned, only he managed to sight a pair of legs through the small space of one of the cubicles. Estimating from the leg width and shape, Senshi's guess was that it was his friend.

"Is that you, Hitake?" Senshi called from the other side of the cubicle. "I apologise if you are somebody else."

"No...it's me," the orange-haired, energetic friend of Senshi's croaked. Usually, he was energetic, but his roughened tone seemed to imply that something was bothering him. "Ya said ya wanted to talk to me."

"Yes, I did. Hitake, something is clearly bothering you," Senshi observed. "I fear I may know what it is. You are the only person I know that has the energy to survive a six-hour long wait without once feeling the emotion of bordem. Only you have ever shown concern for me, save for my parents. There is nothing in this world that can dampen your spirit. However, that is not necessarily true, is it?"

"What are ya gettin' at?" questioned Hitake, his voice not improving.

"What I am saying is that you have poured considerable time into Lapis Pugna Online. After your mother and father gifted it to you one seemingly random day some months ago, you became addicted to it. It was your favourite activity. But when your parents started to argue, Lapis Pugna became your escape. An escape from the harsh words and vile nature of the place you once called home. That was when it became more than a game to you," Senshi recounted. "Should anything dampen that bond you have with the game...I know it would destroy you. Now tell me what happened, exactly."

Instead of a response of words, Senshi received a response of heavy breathing and slight sniffle-age. "I can't tell you...I'm under a contract that says I can't tell anybody..." Hitake cried.

At that moment, Senshi received a new emotion: it surged through his body, specifically his hand muscles. His right hand tightened into a fist, suggesting to Senshi that it was a negative emotion. _Rage? Is this the emotion that leads to destruction? I can understand its allure...I cannot control myself. In this fit of rage, he punched the cubicle door and his tone changed to match his current feeling._

"You...it is the Grey Knights, is it not?" the black haired seventeen year old growled. "I pieced it together with the Masayoshi Hanta, after I had infiltrated their basement. If what you are concerned about is the guild's actions, then you must be banned from the game completely. That must be the case."

Hitake sniffled and breathed some more. "It's just a damn game...you don't hafta be so dramatic about it..."

"Do not be a fool!" Senshi shouted, having raised his voice for the first time in his life. "It was the only thing that brought light into your otherwise dark world, besides me. Without that and since you cannot talk to me about it, you have nothing else. It was your escape, as I have said."

"I'll just play somethin' else then!" Hitake managed to say. "Can't I just make another account?"

"You have put your soul into that game. Every experience, every level you gained and every single slash of the sword - that was all you. It was you releasing your stored rage against the things in your real world," Senshi refuted. He clenched his other fist. "You would not want to turn your back on that. Besides, the AmuSphere only allows for a single account per person, per game. It would not allow you to create another should it detect you."

Silence. From Hitake, at least. His crying may have calmed down, but the sadness still remained.

"To save you...to bring back that light..." Senshi started to finish. "I will defeat the Grey Knights and restore your account. It is the least I can do for you."

* * *

Senya breathed out. "And that is what happened earlier today," he finished, now over with the flashback. "Although I am determined to bring down the Grey Knights, I still feel the lingering sadness. Lapis Pugna was Hitake's escape from the dark, though even that was taken away from him." He did his best to hold back his tears despite one leaking out.

At this, Kyohan's soul filled with sympathy. She wrapped her arms around Senya's chest, giving him a kind of affection only his mother had given him long ago. "Don't you worry. You're a part of the Masayoshi Hanta - we care for all of our members. Fighting the Grey Knights became our main objective once you told us something was up, but the friend of a fellow member being a victim? That takes things to a personal level."

"Kyohan..." Senya spoke, wiping the tear away. "Thank you. It is not often that I am shown this kind of appreciation."

"Why is that? Oh wait, you said you'd tell me all about yourself after we win against the Grey Knights, didn't you?" Kyohan realised. She had released the one-sided hug.

"I did indeed. For now, we need to put this sadness behind us and focus our sights on becoming stronger. Let us find quests, gain levels and get better equipment," Senya reminded. "But first, we need to wait for Naohiro and Jonetsu."

"Of course. Hey wait, you're not the leader of this guild! I'm the one that makes decisions around here."

"But was I not recruited to advise stronger methods?"

"...Ya got me there."

Senya and Kyohan shared a smile and awaited for the other two members of the latter's guild to log-on. From there, they proceeded onwards to find a quest that was essentially a race against time to deliver certain items to certain NPCs across the game's map. All that was received was bonus gold and some experience for the guild. Senya did manage to level up twice, to Level 9 - he split the ten points in half and put five on Attack and five on Speed.

That was only one stepping stone to achieve what he and the rest of the guild desired: a game world without the Grey Knights.


	11. A Split Path

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Hours passed. With each second that faded away, the group of players from Lapis Pugna Online, the slightly popular virtual reality massively multiplayer online game, belonging to the Masayoshi Hanta guild took a step forward to achieve their goal of taking down the immoral Grey Knights and to free the banned accounts that the latter guild took hostage of. In order to even stand against this kind of foe, the Masayoshi Hanta decided it to be best to become stronger - in the form of levelling up.

As the Masayoshi Hanta were traversing down the path to the town of Ignis, Senya took the time to check the other members' stats. They were, in the order that he checked:

* * *

 **Kyohan - Level 42**

Unarmed: 0. Attack: 20. Technique: 10. Defence: 30. Magic: 0. Ranged: 0. Speed: 35. Creation: 20. Cooking: 5. Mining: 20. Health Points: 30. Farming: 5. Buff: 20. Dungeon Crawling: 10.

 **Naohiro - Level 29**

Unarmed: 0. Attack: 2. Technique: 5. Defence: 21. Magic: 0. Ranged: 50. Speed: 10. Creation: 3. Cooking: 7. Mining: 1. Health Points: 15. Farming: 0. Buff: 26. Dungeon Crawling: 0.

 **Jonetsu - Level 27**

Unarmed: 0. Attack: 0. Technique: 0. Defence: 25. Magic: 45. Ranged: 0. Speed: 13. Creation: 0. Cooking: 0. Mining: 0. Health Points: 20. Farming: 0. Buff: 27. Dungeon Crawling: 0.

* * *

Senya was impressed. His friends were growing at a decent rate, what with all the quests and other experience gaining opportunities the guild had been doing for some hours now. This was only good - the more everyone grew, the better. As he quickly glanced over to his comrades, he got the idea to check his own stats, to make sure everything was how it should be.

* * *

 **Senya - Level 11**

Unarmed: 0. Attack: 12. Technique: 5. Defence: 13. Magic: 0. Ranged: 0. Speed: 15. Creation: 0. Cooking: 0. Mining: 0. Health Points: 5. Farming: 0. Buff: 0. Dungeon Crawling: 0.

* * *

Upon his first look, Senya was confused at his Health Points stat not correlating with his current maximum HP of which was 15. It did not take long for him to realise that health was calculated by adding the player's health stat to the game's base level of health - 10. Once he regained his neutral state of mind, the group had already arrived in Ignis.

"Alright, now where was that quest, Naohiro?" Kyohan asked the silver haired, reinforced Leather Armour wearing, archer player. "It's around here somewhere, right?"

"It is. You know, I'll take the lead from here," demanded Naohiro. He began walking northwards, towards the centre of the town and headed into the shop on the immediate right. "Senya, you're now able to wear the next tier of armour, aren't you?"

Senya nodded. "Indeed I can. Can I be excused momentarily to purchase the full set?" He turned to Kyohan.

"Go ahead, Senya. But I'm not letting you have the guild's funds, we're tight enough for cash as it is," the green haired lance user allowed, reminding the guild members of their current funding. The individual members had decent cash of their own, so it was not too much of an issue but Kyohan still found a way to be concerned.

"Not to worry," Senya simply responded. Momentarily, he sold his old armour and purchased a full set of Iron Armour and an Iron Shortsword, only returning to the guild once he did so.

The group seemed pleased with the purchase then followed Naohiro onwards through the leftward path then to a medium-sized building that everyone in the guild saw had a quest marker attached when they brought up their mini-maps. Whatever sort of quest this was, was not unknown to anybody. In fact, Naohiro told the others before they all left.

With an air of confidence entering his lungs, the archer opened the front door and held it open for his teammates to enter, only closing it once the last person in the line - Jonetsu - entered. A middle aged NPC with brown hair entered the small, dark purple bricked room and engaged the guild members.

"Ah, it's you! This must be the group you were telling me about," the NPC started, looking first at Naohiro, then the rest of the Masayoshi Hanta.

"It is. We're ready to accept your quest," Naohiro commanded. He knew how to skip parts of an NPC's script.

"So you are all ready to challenge Abeo Ruins...the very place I went to myself sometime ago but I only barely escaped with my life," the NPC continued. "If you return with proof that you have cleared it, then I will give you what I discovered there."

"That's fine. We all accept," Naohiro half-repeated.

The non-player character paused, almost as if it were loading the next line of its script. "Good. I hope to see you all here in one piece." With that, a notification appeared on everyone else's field of view that informed them the 'Abeo Ruins Scavenge' quest had been accepted and added to their list of quests as an 'active quest'.

Senya brought up his mini-map and pressed the 'enlarge' button, forcing the smaller map to become larger. A quest location marker had been placed far off in the distance, in a wide open grassy plains. "We need to go here," the black-haired player pointed out to his friends.

"That's not too far off...if we encounter monsters at a steady pace along the way, we should get at least a level in each," Kyohan estimated. "Come on guys, let's go!"

Motivated to move thanks to the prospect of level grinding, the other three members of the Masayoshi Hanta guild followed their leader out of the building and towards the ruins the quest desired them to explore.

 _1:55 PM - In-game Time_

 _Outside Abeo Ruins_

Not too long later, the guild members arrived at the locale the male NPC requested them to go to: a huge, grass covered field with some monsters roaming around it. In front of their very eyes was a massive stone that had a shadowy, narrow entryway that seemed to go lead into the depths below. Likely, the entrance to the Abeo Ruins.

With no objections or hesitations, the guild a single line formation while Jonetsu was at the back, Senya was in front of her, Naohiro was after him and proceeding the archer was Kyohan. After the black veiled circular stairway was a wide room that was alit with torches. There was only one way to go.

Directly forward. The players took that path into a large square room which spawned six Mummies, all at Level 30. Everyone was ready to leap into action, though Senya seemed to have something to say.

"Allow me," Senya leaded. "Kyohan, strike at all of these enemies with everything you have. See if you can remove their wrappings for a potential defence drop; Naohiro, stand back and shoot as many arrows as you can. Preferably strong ones; Jonetsu, I am estimating that these...things have a weakness to fire. Use as many of those spells as you can."

"What about you?" Naohiro asked, concerned.

"I will do a hit and run on one of the Mummies. Then, I shall do the same on another and continue the process," Senya explained. Like a microwave that finishes its work, something chimed in Senya's mind. "I have an idea that will allow me to take advantage of a Technique I have yet to fully utilise. Once I call out, I need you all to lead them into a bunch. Jonetsu should be able to use light wind blasts to speed up this process. When that is done, I will finish them all off in a single move. Do you all understand?"

Everyone understood perfectly well. How Senya would accomplish the finishing blow was another story, though they all had faith in their strange tactician. Kyohan gripped her Adamant Lance, Naohiro readied a steel-tipped arrow shot for the Mummy furthest on the right and Jonetsu charged a fire spell.

"Go!" Senya commanded. Kyohan darted in and slashed, stabbed and swiftly moved from Mummy to Mummy, dealing as much damage as she could in the smallest amount of time possible. Naohiro fired his Steel Arrow successfully hit the one he was aiming for, he continued to do so. Jonetsu unleashed the spell, which shot out seven separate flame spheres that spread outwards and travelled along the air in a straight line until they either met their target, or did not.

It was not long before Kyohan's swiping and Jonetsu's firing until the Mummies' wrappings were removed, revealing a charred skin underneath. As it was soon discovered, they were more suspectible to damage in this state. Senya practically did the same as Kyohan, though was unable to get as many hits in on the foes because of his speed not being as good as the female lancer's.

This fight lasted for several minutes, until all the Mummies were at least one hit away from being defeated by any of the group. Just like the plan, Jonetsu's weaker wind blasts forced the Mummies into a cluster that surrounded Senya. Once they got closer to him, Senya activated a Technique - Spin Slicer. It made him slash his Iron Shortsword in a full circle, dealing enough damage to eliminate the Mummies once and for all.

"That was a good workout," joked Kyohan, who was smiling due to the victory her group achieved. She noticed she obtained experience, as did the others - though unlike them, she did not rise in a level.

Jonetsu rose to Level 28 and increased her Health Points stat from 20 to 25; Naohiro went to Level 30 and decided to raise his Ranged stat from 50 to 52 along with his Defence, from 21 to 24; Senya grew to Level 12 and increased his Technique stat from 5 to 10. Instead of being left to carry on playing, Senya had another notification: his Technique meter rose to 10 and he learned a new Technique with the name "Meteor Dive".

"Judging by the name, it must be similar to a jump slash," Senya guessed. He closed the notification and resumed play. "Perhaps I get to test it later on."

"Well, you probably will. Considering how this game typically handles dungeons...we might all end up being a few levels stronger than when we came in. That's leaving out the bonus XP we get after handing in the quest," Kyohan brought up, using her experience to guess.

"Perfect. This is merely another stepping stone for us all," Senya commented. "We must not waste time here. Let us move on."

Everyone in the guild started to move onwards in a cluster of four, with Senya and Jonetsu at the back while Kyohan and Naohiro were at the front. Determined to clear the quest and get as much experience as possible, the guild members pressed on through various enemy clusters, a complex switch puzzle that Senya solved quickly and split hallways. Experience was gained, with Senya and Jonetsu being the only ones to level up.

As the black-haired tactician saw that he rose to Level 13, he chose to add five points to his Health Points stat, bringing it to 10. This meant that his maximum health value was now 20. Meanwhile, the red haired mage became Level 29 then allocated five points to her Magic stat, raising to 50.

With these advancements further adding to their drive to succeed, the guild members carried on through the dungeon.

 _2:19 PM - In-game Time_

 _Abeo Ruins_

Some time later, the Abeo Ruins had forced the quartet into a narrow, dimly lit hallway that barely left any room to breathe. However, as it was the only way forwards, the group had to take it. Kyohan took the lead and made sure that the coast was clear before everyone could venture onwards. Senya initially suggested that Jonetsu could use a fire or electric spell to light the way, though doing so might cause damage to the others, so he rejected the idea himself.

Whilst Kyohan and Naohiro stepped on, they failed to notice a floor switch that the latter of the two accidentally activated. In a split second, the floor opened up from underneath Senya and Jonetsu, forcing them down an unilluminated shaft as the trapdoor closed behind them.

"Damn it!" Naohiro grunted. Desperately, he tried to see if he could open the trapdoor again with either his hands or by means of the switch but neither worked. "If only I was more careful..." He became distraught.

Kyohan noticed this sudden dash of worry in her friend and did her best to cheer him up. "Hey, don't blame yourself. Traps like those are typical in dungeons. If it wasn't you that trigged it, it'd be someone else. Come on, we gotta get moving."

"You're right. Somehow I knew this wasn't going to go well," Naohiro agreed, now cheered up. "Those two can look after themselves."

 _2:20 PM - In-game Time_

 _Abeo Ruins_

Now that they were required to venture on without Senya and Jonetsu, Kyohan and Naohiro shuffled along the tight path - being extra sure as to not run into another trap. While those two were moving along comfortably, the other pair had some difficulties to take care of momentarily.

Senya and Jonetsu landed next to each other, in a medium-small sized lit room.

"Man, that stupid trap..." Jonetsu growled. Clearly, she was not too happy about this occurence as her face showed. "Where the hell are we?"

"In another part of the ruins, it seems," Senya answered, looking around the room. He spotted a decently sized pathway to their right, one that looked as if it was lengthy. "It is our only way out. You lead the way, in the case of danger."

"Sure, why not..." sighed Jonetsu, reluctantly taking the lead through the torch-filled path. _Y'know, I've never really talked to 'im before. Like, person to person. I don't really know 'im that well. Since Kyohan's been wantin' to get stuff outta him, maybe I should probably do the same._

Jonetsu slowed her walking speed, as did Senya. Though, this did do against the latter's logic. "Why did you lower your speed?" He questioned.

"Because...I wanted to talk to ya," Jonetsu answered. "Kyohan's been tellin' us that you're a really kind and considerate person, so I thought I should figure out why. Y'know, like I hafta get to know ya. So I asked. I asked her why you're kind when all you've been doin' is standin' there, givin' advice and bein' so distant from everybody else. So she told me. Me and Naohiro."

"I see," Senya interjected, stopping completely. "She told you about Hitakaru."

"Uh-huh. And I gotta say, that's really awesome of ya. Havin' the capacity to help a friend like that, who's been goin' through a buncha bad stuff lately and with the Grey Knights, things have only been worse for 'im..." Jonetsu relayed. "Really does make me think of you as a good guy, even if ya don't show it."

Senya visibly smiled, surprising Jonetsu. "Thank you. I do appreciate what you have said."

"Damn, I even made ya smile. That's gotta be a record," Jonetsu joked, also smiling.

"It is the first time I have smiled in a long time of failed attempts to do so."

This confused Jonetsu. "What do ya mean? Are ya some sorta robot? Do ya not have feelings? That's a loada bull, everyone has feelin's!"

"You would not understand, most likely. Besides, I have made a promise that I will fulfill - to Kyohan. I told her that once we defeat the Grey Knights, I will tell her. Feel free to join in on that telling if you desire," Senya permitted.

"But why not tell us now?" Jonetsu continued to ask.

"My past to you people, is a mystery. As you are demonstrating right this very moment, you have an interest in it. You wish to know," explained Senya, in detail. "I am only turning that desire to know into determination. That determination is what will grant us the victory against the Grey Knights."

"Oh, okay! Kinda like a boost in power," Jonetsu figured out. "Y'know, since we're now kinda friends...I should probably tell ya a bit about myself. Like some sorta trade to become best friends or somethin'."

"That is fine. I have wished to know what your drive for playing this game is, anyway," Senya accepted, nodding once.

Jonetsu breathed in, then out. She had to take a large breath for the story she was about to tell. "Well, in real life, my family's not rich. We're really poor. My dad only has a low paying job and my mom's always been denied any job she tries to go for. We barely have enough to scrape by. Some days, we hafta go without food. So one day when I was out lookin' for some money, I found a magazine somebody tossed aside. It had an ad competition kinda thing and the prize was this thing called an AmuSphere 2.0 with a free copy of some game."

"I was pretty darn excited after I saw that," Jonetsu carried on. "So I asked for a paper and a pen from somebody, asked for letter stuff and sent the letter to the magazine place. I waited for two weeks for that damn AmuSphere. Y'know what? It actually came. I actually got lucky! I had no idea how I won. I was sure I wasn't gonna get it, but I did. My parents wanted to sell it, but I begged for them to keep it 'cause it was really special to me. They couldn't do anythin' about it, so I was allowed to keep it. My daddy figured out how it worked and set it up for me. Then, I started playin' this game called Lapis Pugna Online and the rest is history."

Senya nodded, showing that he understood the story. "So your drive for playing this game is to keep that special quality in your heart?"

"Kinda. I think that if I keep playin', somethin' good will happen to me. Like, money wise," Jonetsu shrugged. At this point, the walking continued. "Maybe I'll become a pro gamer or somethin'. Like, I really believe that this was some sorta gate to open the possibility of bein' rich. Winnin' that competition has just filled me with belief. I can't really 'splain it all that well."

"No no, it is okay. I understand that you have placed a sort of, marker on this game. You believe that it is a harbinger of good luck and you believe that whatever luck it brings you will benefit your waking life," Senya summarised. "That is a good cause. Perhaps you are correct and the game will give you good luck - after all, you have become a member of the Masayoshi Hanta. Is that not luck?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty happy I'm where I am right now. You really are good guy, y'know?" Jonetsu admitted. One thing the pair failed to realise is that they walked into a bright room with a tall, rough skinned beast equipped with a huge stone hammer and steel armour - likely a boss of sorts. A room that trapped them, forcing them to fight for their freedom. "Ah great."

Senya checked the boss using the menu's Scan feature, discovering that the enemy is an Armoured Beast and it is Level 35 - much higher than either of their levels. "This is a foe that is large, so it must be slow. If we can outspeed it, then we should be fine. Jonetsu, I'm aware that my speed is higher than yours. You only know attacking spells if I remember correctly."

Jonetsu nodded. Senya continued his loud thinking. "Right...I am thinking that we need to drain this beast's health as quickly as possible. Use poison and fire spells to inflict both poison and burn onto the boss. Then, use your strongest available spells to take out large chunks of its health. I will do the same, but for the entirety of the bout. Do you understand?"

Jonetsu nodded once again and readied her only poison element spell - luckily, it had a chance of inflicting the aforementioned status condition onto any foe that can be affected by it. Senya dashed in and slashed at an opening in the armour, striking the boss three times which lowered its health to 44/50. Each hit did two points of damage.

 _Its defence must be low if I can do that much to it. That means this boss is a heavy hitter,_ Senya thought to himself, as he dodged a rather slow hammer swing. Jonetsu released her Poison Ball spell, it successfully hitting the Armoured Beast. The initial strike only dealt one point of damage, decreasing the health of the boss to 43/50. Its health constantly drained for one point per ten seconds. "Good work! Now for a fire spell!"

As Jonestu readied a Singe (a weakened fire ball) spell, Senya used a Meteor Dive technique to leap upwards and bring down a powerful downwards sword slash onto the Armoured Beast's head, which was not protected by any sort of armour. Such an attack lowered the beast's health to 40/50, plus poison. However, Senya was helpless to a hammer swing that blasted him to the other side the room's wall, which took a massive blow to his own health, to a mere 11/20.

 _Damn it!_ Jonetsu lamented to herself. She released the Singe spell and succeeded in giving the Armoured Beast a burn status as well, it doing the same thing as the poison. The initial hit decreased the boss' health to 38/50, as her Singe was at a slightly higher potentcy than her Poison Ball. Senya sprung right back into action and unleashed a Quick Cutter, quickly and fiercely stabbing into a open spot on the armour of the beast, shortening its health to 34/50, plus poison and burn.

Jonetsu shot out an Electric Rain (a sudden burst of electricity that crashes onto the opponent from above) spell - her Electric was her strongest element - to deal some hefty damage. The attack brought the Armoured Beast's health down to 28/50, plus the two status conditions. To match its opposition, the boss started to throw fireballs their way, though they were easily avoidable by the pair of players.

Senya barely evaded a tail swing and used his opportunity to stab the tail multiple times, eventually decreasing the Armoured Beast's health to 22/50 along with the status conditions' effects. Jonetsu followed up with a second and third Electric Rain, bringing the boss down to 12/50. Getting an idea, Senya used a Meteor Dive and as the Armoured Beast countered with the slow hammer swing, the black haired player used Quick Cutter to get a speedy blow in. Its health was now at 8/50.

The red haired female used two more Electric Rains as per Senya's command. Such usage of the spell ended the fight, giving the two players a good amount of experience - just enough for Senya to level up to Level 14. He used all five of his points on the Attack stat, raising it to 17.

"A path forwards has opened up for us. Would you like to walk it?" Senya asked, almost in a cryptic manner.

"Sure. It's gotta be the only way out," Jonetsu agreed. She walked on in front of the underleveled player. "I wonder how Kyohan and Naohiro are doin'."

"To be honest, I am not too sure myself. I am only saying that because I am unsure of the strength of the bond the two share," Senya stated as he waltzed on. "Is it a strong one?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, those two are pretty good. Naohiro looks up to Kyohan as a leader, like how I do. She's got that feelin' of comfortableness around her, like you know you're safe and protected when around her," Jonetsu answered. "Kyohan respects Naohiro, but he can be a little over cautious and stuff. He's a good guy."

"I see. So you all must respect each other," Senya analysed, being sure to check around him for any traps. "That is good. It has to be how you all function as a team."

"Yeah, somethin' like that."

 _2:38 PM - In-game Time_

 _Abeo Ruins_

Senya and Jonetsu made their way down the elongated hall, their movements only coming to a halt once they entered a new room with an unopened wooden chest inside it. Jonetsu immediately inspected the chest, but did not open it.

"You wanna open it?" she asked her friend, not bothering to turn around.

"No, you can do so. You seem to be quite invested in it," Senya answered. "I will not rob you of that joy."

With a smile of joy planted on her face, Jonetsu gracefully opened the chest. She reached inside and carefully grabbed what felt like a small rounded object, pulling it out with great care. It was a quartz gem, one with a certain shine to it.

"The hell?" Jonetsu rhetorically asked nobody in particular. After a second, the mage realised what the item was. "Oh sweet! A Gravity Gem!"

"What is that?" Senya interrogated.

Jonetsu stood up and turned around, allowing the male to see what the gem looked like. "It's called a Gravity Gem. If I'm rememberin' right, then if you find a Blank Ring I think it's called an' you combine this gem with the ring, you get a Gravity Ring. It allows ya to push and pull things that are about two metres from ya. There's actually a whole lotta these gems, but I love this one. Do you want it? I've already got my magic."

"No," Senya immediately replied. "I think Kyohan should have it."

"W-why?" Jonetsu stuttered, confused by the rejection of such an awesome item. In her eyes, at least.

"You and I have what makes us unique in our combat styles. For example, I have my use of Techniques and tactical manoeuvres, while you have magic. Naohiro has ranged abilities and Kyohan has...her lance? I doubt that can be considered unique to even this guild," Senya thoroughly explained.

The mage understood. "Oh...okay! We'll give it to her when we see her...wherever she is."

"I think I see a light at the end of this path, albeit a faint one," Senya noticed, staring down the pathway behind the chest. "That must be the exit. We should be seeing Kyohan and Naohiro out there quite soon, so let us simply await for them outside."

With Jonetsu on board, Senya led himself and her down the not-so lengthy path and up the spiral staircase, eventually to the outside world that Senya predicted the path would lead to.

 _2:44 PM - In-game Time_

 _Outside Abeo Ruins_

Back outside in the grassy plains, Senya and Jonetsu had to wait several minutes for Kyohan and Naohiro to finally emerge. They appeared to be tired, as if they had to do an excess amount of fighting in wherever they were forced to go. Questions had to be asked.

"So, what'd you two get up to?" Jonetsu asked the green haired and silver haired duo.

Naohiro responded. "Kyohan and I found ourselves in a room with a huge swarm of Fire Bats. There had to have been...fifteen of them? However many there were, they were all at Level 28. Even Kyohan had some trouble."

"My lance style doesn't really lend itself to swarm fights too much," Kyohan revealed. "That and Naohiro found it difficult to hit the damn things because they're so tiny and fast."

"It does sound as if it were a true pickle," commented Senya.

Naohiro agreed. "You can say that again. Only got out of there through Ice Arrows and Kyohan remembering that her lance isn't only useful for stabbing."

"Yeah, that was a thing that happened..." Kyohan admitted, slightly embarrassed. "To change the subject, how did you two do?"

"Jonetsu and I encountered an Armoured Beast. It was some sort of giant rat with armour," Senya replied. "We utilised a combination of her spells and my Techniques. Meteor Dive proved to be useful, as the beast had no helmet."

"We also found this," added in Jonetsu. She took out the Gravity Gem, showing to the half of the guild that had not seen it up to that moment. "Kyohan, we were thinking of giving it to you 'cause all you've got is your lance and we've got unique stuff, so it's fair ya get this."

Kyohan smiled. "Well, I-uh...I thank you." The green-haired lancer happily accepted the Gravity Gem, adding it to her inventory in seconds. "Now we just need to find a Blank Ring. But first, we need to hand in this quest."

With that, the Masayoshi Hanta guild members returned to Ignis, handed in the quest and returned to excessive level grinding. All to become that little bit stronger, to benefit their chances of succeeding in their future raid.


	12. Getting Closer

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Forming into the fake reality, the black-haired player of Lapis Pugna Online who goes by the name of Senya, had logged on. After confirming his surroundings to be one of two bedrooms belonging to the Masayoshi Hanta - the guild he was a part of - Senya immediately brought up the game's menu screen with a flick of the wrist.

He quickly decided on the 'friends' sub-menu, finding that none of them were online. One friend of his, Hitakaru, had a line through the name of which indicated that he was banned. Judging from recent events, Senya knew this was the case.

It had been three days since the quest at the Abeo Ruins. Within that time frame, Kyohan managed to create a Gravity Gem, levels had been gained for each of the guild's four members along with new equipment to accompany the increases.

With nary a thing to do until later, Senya began to think to himself. _My techniques...Quick Cutter, Spin Slicer, Meteor Dive and the two I have learnt more recently, Illusionary Rush and Beam Outburst...I will have to master all of them to succeed in our later strike. Kyohan completed her Gravity Gem, thanks to the realisation that Blank Rings can be purchased at any jeweler's. It seems that Naohiro and Jonetsu have both learnt new abilities that should provide an advantage as well. The latter of the aforementioned pair has also started to wear new robes that increase her defence and magic power while the former has obtained more effective arrows along with reinforced leather armour._

Senya sat down on the nearest bed, which belonged to him. _I am Level 22, Kyohan is Level 50, Naohiro is Level 34 and Jonetsu's Level 30. As we have all focused on our core stats, we will be formidable to the Grey Knights. Despite my low level and underwhelming iron equipment, I should be able to do well. How well I will do remains to be seen._

The seventeen year old player continued to sit upon his bed for many a minute to come, only having his thought patterns change when a familiar silver-haired comrade phased into the world next to the other bed in the room.

"Ah, Senya. I see you've logged on early," Naohiro commented. "Is nobody else around?"

"Kyohan and Jonetsu are both offline, yes," confirmed Senya, not wasting his energy by nodding. "I was merely collecting information based on us to think of a possible strategy to defeat the Grey Knights effectively. When they get online, I hope to talk to everyone to discuss our plan of action."

"Sounds good to me. Hey, Senya, can I ask you something?" Naohiro asked, walking forwards and halting movement when he reached the guild's tactician. In reply, the black-haired one nodded. "Would you like to fight me again? I can restrict my level again if you want."

"That would not be necessary, Naohiro. With my current ability, I can best you despite the level gap."

Upon hearing this, Naohiro garnered a facial expression matching that of shock. "You think so? Well, say the word and let's get out there. We'll see if you're not just being cocky."

"I accept your challenge. And, I have never been cocky before in my life time. Since I know of your fighting style, battling you will be a simple procedure," Senya returned, having turned to face his guild team-mate.

"Let's just go," Naohiro sighed. Admittedly, he was somewhat vexed at Senya's impudence, but he did not let the state get the better of him as the outcome would be decided very soon.

 _3:37 AM - In-game Time_

 _Outside Liquidum_

Outside the town of Liquidum, Senya and Naohiro planted their feet upon the small plane of grass next to the forest directly opposite to the settlement's entrance. There was no other place for them to begin their round of combat because after all, this was where they first fought some days ago.

Naohiro brandished his Gold Bow, as did Senya with his Iron Shortsword and Iron Shield. As the archer readied an arrow shot, the tactician prepared his shield.

 _He thinks that's going to work again? Not a smart move for someone like him_ , Naohiro observed to himself. Once he focused his aim, a regular arrow was fired.

Similarly to their previous fight, Senya used his shield to block the arrow. After viewing this action taking place, Naohiro smirked and readied another regular arrow. Curious, Senya allowed this to happen as to eventually discover that his foe had used a technique to multiply the arrow by fifty.

Fifty arrows were now coming at him - all of which he could not possibly block. The ones furthest to the top, left and right rows and columns were curving round which would strike Senya with a great force if he did not move his shield. Instead of doing this, Senya leapt into the air then began to shoot downwards, diagonally, towards Naohiro. Not an arrow would halt this movement, of which forced the archer to jump backwards to avoid the attack.

"That's your Meteor Dive, isn't it?" guessed Naohiro, grinning. "Impressive how you used that to dodge my Arrow Swarm technique. Unfortunately, there's a lot more to my arsenal than that."

Without a response from his opponent, Naohiro prepared another basic arrow but applied a turquoise glow to it that only lasted for a half-second. Once it faded, the arrow's tip was surrounded with ice - revealing it to be a Buff that turned the arrow into an Ice Arrow. Naohiro fired the Ice Arrow though with his speed, Senya evaded it. However, a small area around the arrow had frozen over; such an action filled Senya's active mind with several possibilities as to what his sharp opposition was going to do next. As per one of these suspicions, Naohiro began rapidly firing Ice Arrows, freezing the immediate area entirely.

Out of nowhere, Naohiro had swapped out his Reinforced Leather Boots for an item that looked almost the same, but with pointed spikes at the soles - Reinforced Ice Boots. Senya knew that those gave Naohiro the ability to walk around effortlessly on the ice, leaving the black-haired one at a disadvantage. Though, if he were anybody else, this would be a true downside.

Senya swung his hip to the right, then to the left, avoiding two arrows in the process. Then, he dashed ahead whilst using the ice to propel his movement. Thirdly, Senya attempted an up-right to a down-left diagonal slash but an arrow nearly impeded his progress. Fourthly, the tactician seemed to transform into an afterimage of himself though right before Naohiro's latest arrow hit the ice, Senya reappeared and finished off the slash on Naohiro's back: he managed this by using his Illusionary Rush technique.

The slash reduced Naohiro's health to 43/45. Using recoil time effectively, Senya got in eight slashes and when Naohiro tried to turn around, Senya only made him recoil for longer using a shield bash. Of course, this allowed the player to get four more slashes in before the silver-haired one used an explosive Buff on an arrow to distance the two albeit damaging himself as well as his opponent.

As it stood, Naohiro was at 16/45 and Senya was at 31/34. Both side knew of the differences in health, but neither were about to let up just yet.

"Focus on your defence, Naohiro. Start putting most of your points into it - it would not be favourable if you fell during the attack on the Grey Knights," Senya advised, doing his best not to move his legs as to not slip. "You have shown promise. However, it is unfortunate for you that I know all of your abilities and have planned out counter methods for each of them, for improvement purposes. It seems my speed was not efficient enough to prevent you from unleashing that explosive arrow."

"I see what you mean," Naohiro nodded. He grinned, almost as if he had something up his sleeve. Using his speed stat, the archer released some Fire Arrows to melt the ice completely and used an Electric Arrow to shock the entire field that was once frozen over. This worked, chipping a small percentage off from Senya's health and paralysing him completely. "Checkmate, my friend. It's all over."

Naohiro readied another use of Arrow Swarm and hurled the fifty arrows, all of which were on the course of victory. Though, Senya had a plan: he quickly utilised a Paralyse Heal from his inventory to eliminate the aforementioned status effect and at the right time, used a combination of Meteor Dive and Quick Cutter to leap into the air (the arrows hindered Naohiro's sight) and quickly strike the archer.

Just like earlier, Senya unloaded a large amount of sword slashes - enough to bring Naohiro's health points to a measly 1/45 which ended the bout. The archer was forced onto the damp grass due to knockback, allowing him to recollect on the battle.

"Wow, that was...I had no idea you were capable of doing that," Naohiro commented, surprised that a Level 22 like Senya could beat a Level 34 like himself. "Admittedly, in the past few days, I have been focusing on my Ranged, Buff and Technique stats more than I should have. You with high stats, now that's an incredible force."

"My stats can be much higher. Kyohan's are much better than mine," Senya responded. "And Jonetsu's are higher than yours."

Naohiro nodded in shame. "Yeah...that's quite stupid of me. I'll definitely improve on those in the coming days," he spoke. A short time after he finished speaking, his facial expression lit up, as if he remembered something. "Speaking of Jonetsu, she told me that you guys bonded a little during your time together in Abeo Ruins. She's suggested that you and I do the same."

"I see. It is only fair that I know of your reasoning for being here," agreed Senya. "Kyohan is quite elusive with hers, likely as a payback for me not telling anybody about mine. I digress, please, start from the beginning."

"Well..." Naohiro began to recount. "My family's pretty much any old one. I've got a mother, father and a sister that's a year older than me. We all love each other and there hasn't been any conflict between us at all, but we did use to live in Wakayama for the first ten years of my life. For the record, I'm only sixteen and my birthday's in a few months. Anyway, now that we live in Osaka, I had to leave my best friend behind - a friend I treasured, as we've been together for my entire school time over there. Since I didn't have a phone at that age, we couldn't trade numbers and we were too stupid to not share addresses so we can send letters to each other."

Senya was listening. "So you and your friend were separated at some time in 2020?"

"Six years ago...yeah, that's true," Naohiro quickly calculated. "Man, it's almost been a whole decade since we last met. I wonder if she'll remember me?"

"She?" Senya raised an eyebrow at this. "This increases the probability of the connection you two share being one of romance. At least, in my uninformed eyes."

"No it's - oh, what's the point in getting flustered like that? Yeah, I did have a bit of a crush on her," admitted the silver-haired one. "But it was probably a stupid kid's thing. All people, at least _normal_ people, have probably had one. I haven't seen her in a while, so I dunno if it'll hold true today."

"I know not of love. At least, not traditional romance," Senya started to explain. "Though I hypothesise that if you have that sort of feeling towards someone, you obviously have an attraction towards that person. It is possible that you are merely attracted towards your memory of her however and it would be tragic if she has changed for the worse. You may as well think positively."

Naohiro fell silent, lost in his thoughts. It took for a familiar upbeat voice to snap him out of his funk.

"Hey, you guys!" Kyohan called, having departed from Liquidum with Jonetsu. "Sorry we're late, but we've got some important news!"

"What could it be?" questioned Senya.

"It's about the Grey Knights. Another player has been taken by 'em, but nobody knows who actually did it besides us," Jonetsu answered, folding her arms. Naohiro stood up and de-equipped his bow, as did Senya with his sword. "It's not anybody we know."

The archer was surprised, while the tactician was angered. "They're still doing this? Will they ever stop?" the former asked.

"Such a vile guild has shown no signs of halting their progress. I do not believe that they will stop," Senya chipped in. "We need to talk inside, to prevent the possibility of another player overhearing our plan. If it becomes popular, the Grey Knights will hear and the plan will be compromised."

"Good idea. Come on, let's head back in," Kyohan commanded, leading the charge to the female's bedroom of the Masayoshi Hanta guild's headquarters.

 _3:49 AM - In-game Time_

 _Liquidum Town, Masayoshi Hanta HQ_

Now that they were out of a potential interloper's hearing range, Senya and Naohiro sat down on one bed while the two girls did the same for the second bed. As everyone was ready, Senya began to give his voice.

"As I have said, the Grey Knights are likely to not stop. We all have grown quite well in the time we have dedicated to doing so and our current individual strength is great. Combine those strengths and we have a near unstoppable force," Senya explained in detail. "That is why I believe we should start the attack tomorrow. We cannot waste away any more days."

Kyohan, Jonetsu and Naohiro were not even surprised at this. "I understand. You know, I was thinking about this and you're right. The more time we spend, the more time the Grey Knights have to complete...whatever studies they're doing," Kyohan agreed. "We shall attack them tomorrow."

"But how're we gonna actually do it?" Jonetsu wondered aloud.

"I have a plan. We utilise the Squire from that Mirror Quest we completed some time ago," Senya brought up, starting to elaborate on his scheme. "Once we get teleported inside the castle, we stick together and locate Cinereus, the leader of the guild. Eliminate him and we will be victorious."

"Simple enough. Just take on anybody or anything that comes our way..." Naohiro agreed, likening to the plan.

"As reckless as the idea of rushing in like that is, it sounds like our best one yet. I have faith in you and your scheming, Senya," Kyohan nodded. "I'll lead. I have the biggest chance of taking out whatever they throw at us. We should spend the rest of our day gaining more experience. We'll start the raid first thing tomorrow."

Senya, Jonetsu and Naohiro all agreed and started to mentally prepare themselves for the final attack. With it, the problems plaguing all the captured players would go away - for a friend's sake, it needs to succeed.


	13. Final Attack on the Grey Knights

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Kyohan, the leader of the Masayoshi Hanta guild, led the not-so literal march into the town of Lux. A quiet location, though the stone buildings seemed to have a tint of yellow to them. Whatever secrets this locale held were a mystery to this very day, at least to the ones that currently have business elsewhere - including the four members of the Masayoshi Hanta. These folks had something different to take care of.

It was an important day.

"Alright," Kyohan spoke, pausing the group's advance in the middle of the path. "All of you remember the plan?"

Everyone nodded, while the black-haired tactician of the group - Senya - almost sighed at the redundancy of the question for him. He was the one to think of the plan in the first place, after all.

"We're gonna hit up the Squire from that Mirror Quest we did a while back, tell 'im to warp us to the castle, then we find the leader of the guild and kill 'im," Jonetsu, the red-haired mage, answered. "After doin' that, we'll force the 'Knights to release the ban on all those players and it'll be smooth sailin' from there."

"If we get a bad rep from any of those players dedicated to the guild, we'll just ignore them. Let's not waste our time on those that believe the Grey Knights to be a good natured guild," Naohiro, the silver-haired archer, added.

Kyohan hummed a confirmation noise. "That we shall! Remember to have your best weapons, armour, spells, arrows, techniques and buffs at the ready. I have a feeling that Cinereus is going to be one tough opponent. Senya, we'll also need your strategies."

"I will provide," Senya responded. Jonetsu readied her Reinforced White Mage Cloak (which granted her a defence bonus) and her Flame Rod (which increased the damage of her fire spells); Naohiro checked to ensure that his Light Iron Armour (a lighter version of the regular iron armour) and his Precision Bow (which increased the velocity of all his arrows) were equipped.

Senya knew he need not do the same with his Steel Armour, Steel Sword and Steel Shield. He knew the steel set was a tier higher than the iron set, meaning that his current set gave more defence bonuses. Kyohan was in the same way with her Adamant Lance and Adamant Armour - she had already checked beforehand, feeling confident that her guild would be victorious.

With another surge of confidence, Kyohan broke the temporary second long silence. "Then let's get moving!" She ordered the guild, as the march carried on. Every member of the guild followed their leader down the road, never halting in place, though physical progress slowed upon entering a stone house in the bottom left corner of the entire settlement.

Neither of them needn't bother to examine the inside of the abode - it was the exact same one from which they accessed the start of the Mirror Quest they had completed several days past. Same as before, the Squire NPC was sitting at his desk. Kyohan approached him.

"Hey there, we want to see the leader of the Grey Knights," Kyohan requested, hoping that the NPC's script allowed for this. "We have some...questions we want to ask him."

"Questions? Hmm, I suppose it's not my place to ask exactly what they're about. I'll bring you into the castle," the Squire NPC agreed. An easily won agreement such as this one brought doubt to Senya's mind, though since this non-player character held the key to infiltrating the base efficiently, he relaxed his consciousness a little. While Senya was thinking, the Squire had set up the teleportation magic needed to reach the castle.

" _We must be careful. It is probable that the Grey Knights have heard of our attack already, so we need to be alert for any defences or any sort of trickery,_ " Senya thought to himself, as the Masayoshi Hanta were teleported far away from Lux. " _Especially that peculiar mage, barring the obvious challenge of Cinereus. We may not succeed..._ "

 _4:03 AM - In-game Time_

 _Grey Knights' Castle_

After arriving in a small room with a wood floor and a stone ceiling, the Masayoshi Hanta members looked at each other and gave a reassuring nod. In Senya's case, his nod was more of one to show that he was physically and mentally okay. With most of the preliminaries out of the way, there was only one step left.

"To find and defeat Cinereus," Kyohan finished. She whispered, to ensure that none of the Grey Knights could hear her. "That's what we need to do. I remember where his room is, so I'll take the lead."

No objections. Not from Senya, Naohiro or Jonetsu. This meant that the plan could proceed.

Since everybody was in acceptance of the next step in the procedure, they all departed from the room and began to step down the same hallway that the Squire once led them through. Everything seemed so simple...that was before their 'machine' started malfunctioning. Being at the tailend of the single file line, Senya heard a voice from behind him.

Upon turning around, he saw that it belonged to that ever so elusive mage.

"Follow me..." the mysterious deep female voice seemed to say. Instinctively, Senya found himself walking away from his fellow guild members in pursuit of the mage. As the others were focused on their goal, they had failed to notice that Senya had ventured towards the opposite side of the hall and eventually into a ten metre wide and tall room.

Even though Senya had realised what he was doing, it was too late; the mage had already forced the door shut. There was only one way out.

"I have known about your plan for quite some time," the mage revealed. "Do not think that secrets go by me. I know a lot."

"You played upon my lack of knowledge about you and my desire to know more...that led to me acting on my instincts, resulting in me following you here," Senya realised, piecing it all together. "Manipulation. A trick one uses to force others to do their bidding. Though, I do not know what you want from me. You are a complex non-player character."

"Non-player?" the mage smirked. Senya listened with a blank expression. "Would an NPC truly select you out of everybody available?"

"Random number generation, perhaps? It is likely that, or a complex script full of detailed parameters and the like," responded Senya. "Maybe due to Hitakaru and I entering the basement of this castle, a flag was set in your code that drew you to us. That must be why your guild has decided to lock him out of his only source of joy. Because of your guild, he has spiralled into a deep depression. Quite honestly, I do not care if you are a non-player character and this goes past your understanding. I need to do what I can to help my first friend."

"That doesn't matter to me. And have you not figured it out yet? I'm not an NPC..." the mage teased. She pulled back her cloak, revealing a tall, dark purple and long haired female that wore a black robe which covered her entire mid and lower sections, meaning that her white-skinned face and arms were the only parts of her body actually visible. She also wore black gloves, likely to match her cloak and eye colour. "...I am a player. My username is Kirai."

Senya's blank face remained, though logical questions raced through his mind and eventually came out of his mouth. "Why would you join the Grey Knights, knowing what they do?" one question he asked.

"You are the one that does not know what they do. You never bothered to look deeper into it - you assumed that it all was bad," Kirai interjected. "The Grey Knights are a guild with no moral guidelines. They do what they please, it is not as evil as the dark or as good as the light. We are neutral. I joined this guild after learning that players could enter: I did so because I wanted to be powerful."

"Powerful? Strength can only be achieved through perseverance. You did this for mere experience points?"

Kirai shook her head. "Not like that. I aim to become the strongest player in the game, the only way to do that is through this guild. For you see, what you saw in that laboratory is the Ultimate Player process. We put implants inside people's bodies, which boosts their stats considerably, without having to level up. When you combine this process with the points available after levelling up, you can get a player with abnormally high stats."

"And in games such as these, high stats means you are untouchable by those with lower stats. It is all about the numbers."

"You understand," Kirai grinned, slightly menacingly. "I joined the Grey Knights on a whim, after hearing people on a forum thread talk about them. Obviously, they did not know of the Ultimate Player process. It is something only those with the best in-guild rank can hear about. Between the time where I joined and the time when I obtained the rank, the guild's leaders had not tested the process out. I volunteered to be the guinea pig."

"So you have abnormally large stats. I am surprised the game has not targeted you as Wanted," pointed out Senya.

Kirai laughed threateningly. "You believe this game cares? How naive; I thought you were smarter than that. Since we're run by NPCs, there's no rule breaking happening here. The developers have allowed the Ultimate Player process to happen. In fact, they were the ones to think of it because in-game, the higher ranked NPCs were said to have thought of the idea. If it came from an NPC, it came from at least one of the game's developers."

"I see. So the developers fail to understand the importance of the game to some people. Ruining what could be the only ray of sunshine in someone's life," Senya shot back.

"Sure, during the process, players are banned and given an NDA to prevent disclosure but once it is complete, all of that is reversed. So you don't need to worry about your friend, he'll return to the light eventually. However, he'll be with us forever. That includes the other two players we have recently taken. We will have four Ultimate Players, including myself - we will be the strongest guild around. We will own this game's world."

"You people do this out of your selfish desires, not caring for what your subjects experience!" Senya growled, anger building up within. "Hitakaru would never want to join you! He is a carefree soul! When you say he will return to the light, do you not mean he will remain in the dark? You will force him to stay with you, restricting his freedom in the game! He will not be free! This game does not support multiple accounts and it was the only virtual reality AmuSphere game his mother could afford!"

"Oh?" Kirai wondered aloud, tilting her head in fake confusion. "I'm not sorry to hear about this. I could care less."

"You should. With little money and no available jobs, his mother and father started to bicker, each side blaming the other for their woes. They became disconnected from one another, soon beginning to blame the game on their woes. As Hitakaru was having such fun, he became guilt-ridden, only adding to the inner pain he was feeling due to the initial bickering. Lapis Pugna was his only escape from that - it was the only way he could feel positive emotions. Now even that has been taken away from him."

Kirai yawned. "Still don't care."

"You...you, y-bitch. You bitch!" Senya barked, swearing for the first time in his life. "You care not for a person's suffering! This could lead to suicide, you heartless wretch. And I will not have my first friend fall down the pit of depression! Defeating the Grey Knights here will ensure that never happens. If you will not let me pass, I will have to slash my way through." He brandished his Steel Sword.

"I have far bigger stats than you! Not only that, I'm Level 50! You have no chance against me," Kirai returned. Clicking her fingers, five spheres of electricity appeared around her. "I'd love to see you try."

With a flick of her wrist, the five electric spheres darted straight for Senya, who blocked them with his Steel Shield. Grinning, Kirai fired five arrows with sharp heads using the same hand motions as with her summoning of the electricity. Senya dodged them, knowing that this particular 'breed' of arrows could pierce his shield and armour.

Senya figured that the next best course of action would be to dash straight towards Kirai, to hopefully get in a few powerful slashes. As she was also a player, he could not identify how many hit points she had exactly. This did not matter to Senya too much as he was able to barely get in a single sword slash after dodging a fire ball. Now that she had been hit, the tactician could tell that she had a total of 80 HP and that his attack reduced that number to 78.

"Impressive. You were able to dodge my weaker spells and you hit me once," Kirai mockingly praised. "Let's kick it up a notch." Showing her pure white teeth in an intense grin, Kirai waved her hand upwards from a lower position, summoning pillars of earth from below Senya to send him into the air. This lowered Senya's health from 39/39 to 36, but after the purple-haired mage moved her hand downwards, the black-haired tactician was sent crashing into the ground which dropped his HP to 33.

As Senya picked himself up, he began to think of a possible countermeasure to the previously used spells. When he began to move forward, pillars blocked his path and another set quickly arose from beneath him.

" _This is exactly what I wanted,_ " Senya thought. Instead of allowing the pillar to push him, the seventeen year old utilised the momentum from the rising of the pillar to activate his Meteor Dive technique - bringing his Technique meter to 29/30 as a result - to launch himself into the air and bring his blade onto Kirai. However, she easily evaded the strike and fired an electric sphere as a counterattack.

"Not quite!" he yelled in anger. After disappearing completely, Kirai looked all around in order to find him. She was too slow to dodge the attack that would soon come her way, an attack that would bring her HP to 75/80.

"Was that the Illusionary Rush technique? I haven't seen it been used in that way before...you'll make for an interesting Ultimate Player," Kirai hinted, putting on an enticing tone. Obviously this did not work on Senya - he was not intruiged in the slightest.

"Now you have the gall to attempt to draw me in?" Senya noticed. "I must finish this quickly. My friends may not succeed against Cinereus without me."

"Even if you do defeat me, I'll just respawn. Since this entire castle is a PVP zone, I can just keep attacking you until you die and lose your equipment!" Kirai returned, keeping her cool. "I will become the strongest in the game. You will not prevent that from happening."

"We shall see," ended Senya. His opponent and himself returned to fighting, striking each other to lower either of their HP to zero. The fight dragged on for some time, leaving the rest of the Masayoshi Hanta without their tactician.

 _4:13 AM - In-game Time_

 _Grey Knights' Castle, Cinereus' Office_

Following Senya's instinctive departure from the plan, Kyohan, Jonetsu and Naohiro gradually approached the plain door that led to Cinereus' office. Once they stepped inside, darkness turned to light and the tall, sizely man in dark grey armour arose onto his two feet. The Masayoshi Hanta members gritted their teeth in anticipation for what would come very soon.

But first...

"The time has come," Cinereus started with his booming voice. "I have been expecting your arrival. You aim to bring my guild down, do you not?"

"We plan to do exactly that! Your guild has brought sadness to friends of ours - we can't let that go unpunished!" Kyohan barked, gripping her lance.

"I see...you do not quite understand our work. I have been informed that you do not know exactly what it is we do. If I were to tell you, I would have to keep you under our watch," Cinereus continued. He did not have a weapon in his hand, but the Masayoshi Hanta members assumed that he had one somewhere. "That is what I would like to do."

"You plan to make us your pawns? That would mean we'd have to sacrifice our freedom...the game would not permit us to leave, most likely. Whatever would happen, we need to avoid it," Naohiro guessed. "It can't be good for us."

Cinereus garnered a creepy smile. "Correct. If I were to tell you, you'd likely spread the information around until the entire world knows of our operation. As we aim to create the strongest warrior, most would see it as unethical. They would try to stop us, just like you do now."

"Strongest warrior? Do you guys literally just give people a buncha XP?" Jonetsu asked, pinpointing key words that the leader of the Grey Knights used.

"In a way," Cinereus answered, keeping his off-putting smile. "We increase the battle power of our subjects, increasing their 'stats', as you call it. As you people gain this 'XP', you seem to become stronger. Combining our Ultimate Player process with your XP can breed an overly powerful warrior. Kirai is one of them and she is fighting your friend Senya as we speak."

"Is he, really?" Kyohan wondered aloud. She checked to her sides and behind her - Senya was nowhere in the room. "Alright...tell us where he is and who this 'Kirai' person is!"

"Your friend is stuck in a room within this castle, locked in combat with Kirai. She is the first to have received the benefits of the Ultimate Player - she tells me that she has encountered your friend Senya several times before. Perhaps he'll become a useful specimen," hinted Cinereus.

The three rebellious players were not fazed by this. "You won't make us into your pawns. We want our freedom! We don't care about being the strongest and most of all..." Kyohan growled. "You've hurt a friend of ours. That's unacceptable. As cheesy as this sounds, we'll defeat you here, Cinereus."

"Bring it on, insects," Cinereus returned, equipping a large black axe. He moved his desk to the wall, allowing the entire room to be used as an arena. "I am untouchable."

"We'll see about that!" Kyohan finished. She dashed forward and stabbed Cinereus' Obsidian Armour with her lance, only to find that the attack reduced her opponent's HP to 99 from the total of 100. One axe swing from Cinereus brought Kyohan down to 57 from her total of 61. It also sent her flying into the (surprisingly) stable wall.

Naohiro saw this and retaliated by firing a Piercing Arrow that the tough axe-wielder took head-on though disappointingly, the hit only dropped Cinereus' health to 97. Jonetsu got into the action with a wind blast, but that did not even do a single point of damage. Kyohan returned and aimed for Cinereus once again - he was able to evade by leaning to the right and counterattacking with a combination of a downwards axe slash, bringing her to the ground, and a kick, forcing her back towards the door that was soon found to be forcibly shut. This combination lowered Kyohan's health to 51/61.

"No...we're getting slaughtered..." Kyohan grunted, feeling the force of the strikes laid upon her. "If we lose here, they'll force us to become one of them. We'll probably be locked out of our current player freedom...this game sure loves its realism."

"Without Senya, our attacks are uncoordinated. Until he gets here, let's just attack with all we've got," Naohiro suggested, shooting an Ice Arrow at Cinereus, which was swiped away with one of his wrists.

Jonetsu tried paralysing Cinereus, though it only worked for so long. His health was reduced to 92/100 in as a result of the free attacks. Once he was free, the leader of the Grey Knights gained incredible speed as he dashed ahead to use a powerful and speedy axe slash on each of his foes. Naohiro's HP was now at 33/38, Jonetsu's was at 39/44 and Kyohan's was 45/61.

" _Senya, if you don't get here in time, we'll all fail...even if you do defeat Kirai somehow, there's no way you could defeat Cinereus on your own. Come on, we need to stop them..._ " Kyohan thought to herself, her delusion making her believe she could telepathically communicate with the tactician.

 _4:13 - In-game Time_

 _Grey Knights' Castle, ?_

Meanwhile, the combat that Senya and Kirai were engaged in raged on. Each side was dealing damage to the other, exchanging sword slashes and destructive elemental spells respectively. Senya's HP had dropped to 14/39, while Kirai's was at 56/80. Clearly, the black-haired one had a disadvantage.

Despite this, he carried on.

"I'm certain that you've figured out the two reasons why I've brought you here," Kirai stated, once the pace of the battle started to wane.

"Of course. You wanted to give Kyohan, Naohiro and Jonetsu a harder time against Cinereus," Senya responded. His Technique meter was at 10/30, but due to the different potions he and the other guild members stocked up on prior to the infiltration, he technically had a lot more to go. "Not only that, you wished to see what I could do on my own in battle."

"Right you are," Kirai grinned. "Let's see where this fight will go." Clicking her fingers, the mage became surrounded in an electric sphere.

Senya knew what this was - an Electric Shield. What made it different from regular shields is that if physical attacks are used on it, the attacker loses health due to the volatile nature of the element. This meant that Senya was unable to do things the way he usually was able to do.

But that did not stop him. " _Physical attacks will not work...I must thank the online database for this game for providing information about all the spells and such. In this case, I must utilise my most recent technique..._ " Senya thought. He stretched his sword arm backwards, letting the blade glow a white colour. "Beam Outburst!" With that, he slashed the air - forcing the glow to turn into a small projectile, keeping the previous colour.

The Beam Outburst struck the Electric Shield, dealing no damage to Kirai herself but visibly having an effect on the shield itself. Intensity of the electric lowered somewhat and following several more uses of the technique the shield dissipated. However, this meant that Senya's Technique was now at 5/30.

"So you can counter my shields as well...why not try again?" Kirai asked rhetorically, summoning another Electric Shield. Without hesitation, Senya used five more Beam Outbursts to eliminate the shield, though this meant his Technique was now depleted.

"Was that your plan with those shields? To reduce my Technique meter to zero?" Senya questioned. He was sure that the answer was yes.

Kirai nodded. "I knew you've been using many techniques, so I just stalled you out until it happened. I wouldn't have known if it worked if you hadn't told me. Thank you for that."

"Your health points are almost half-empty..." pointed out Senya, able to read the exact number on the small piece of heads-up display above Kirai's head. "...I should ensure that it drops quickly." Taking a break from attacking, Senya brought out a green potion from his inventory and drank it; it was a Large Technique Potion, able to restore thirty points of Technique - exactly what Senya needed.

"Potions?! I should have known bringing some of those would have been a good idea..." Kirai disclosed. "Master Cinereus is a good leader, but sometimes he's too cocky. You're in luck that I have to respect my guild's leader and follow his every command, otherwise I'd have potions of my own. It's not a big problem anyway, my Magic meter is large enough."

"That information is not relevant to me," Senya spoke in his trademark monotone voice. He really did not care.

Surprised to hear this - believing that the tactician at least held some sort of interest in her weaknesses, Kirai visibly became shocked. Before she could say anything, Senya's sword became filled with a red light for a half-second. A buff had been activated, lowering the male's yellow Buff meter to 19/20. Now, Senya dashed forward and attempted several strikes on the mage, the fourth one succeeding and revealing that the buff increased Senya's attacking power by 1.5, evidenced by how the attack did two points of damage except for one. Kirai's health was now at 54/80.

"Buffs as well? You're a bit too resourceful..." Kirai commented.

Four waves of highly pressurised water blew towards Senya, all of which he dodged and with another use of the 'Increase Attack' Buff, Kirai's health dropped to 52/80. Speedier blasts of water tried to hit Senya, but he dodged again by using one portion of Meteor Dive to leap upwards. To follow on from the attack, he used the Increase Attack Buff to increase the damage dealt to his opponent to three points and also combined the dive with Quick Cutter to speed it up, as well as furthering the blow's power to five.

Now that Kirai's health was 47/80, she knew something was up.

"Why? Why are you able to even hit me?!" Kirai questioned, losing more of her sanity. "You said it yourself! It's all a numbers game! Well, my numbers are better than yours! How can you still be hitting me?!"

"Because of my strategy. I am able to prioritise my attacks so they are faster than your movements and I can strengthen my blows so that they strike harder," explained Senya, in his monotone voice. "Even though your speed is better than mine, you still have to aim your spells. You are losing sanity because I am preventing you from reaching your goal. That makes you sloppy and slow, meaning I have to put little effort into attacking."

"How do you know all this? You haven't been playing for very long, considering your level!" Kirai growled back.

"It does not take much brain power to understand the things I am saying. Whether you can understand them or not is of little concern to me," Senya answered. "What I do care is that once I defeat you, I implore you to leave me alone. Fighting me or my friends would be a waste of your time once I prove that even I, a low levelled tactician, can defeat you. Now to finish the fight."

She did not want to believe Senya. Her fighting was fine, she was not losing sanity. She was perfectly in control and still had her advantages in the fight - there was no conceivable way that she could lose to someone like this. However, Kirai found herself with only three points of health left and Senya's HP remained at 14. With a single basic slash powered by the Increase Attack Buff, her health was at a dangerous single point. She was on the floor, at the pointed end of Senya's blade.

"You really were able to defeat me...all I wanted was power. I didn't want to be weak any more," Kirai divulged, able to regain her stable mindset now that she had it smacked back into her.

"Any more?" Senya selected.

Kirai nodded. "I was born with a disease, one that landed me with abnormally small bones. Because of this, I wasn't really treated nicely at school, though my parents have supported and loved me over these years. I was unable to fight back the jerks and I couldn't really help out my parents with much. I felt so pathetic, until I got to experience Lapis Pugna for the first time. I made my character as tall I could and instantly aimed to become the strongest, so I could at least not be treated as weak as I am in the real world."

"But you lost your way," Senya summarised for the fallen mage.

"Exactly," Kirai confirmed, picking herself up. "It's ridiculous. Video games shouldn't be so dramatic but damn, I can't help it. From what you were telling me, you're in the same way." A semblance of a smile started to form on her face. Her purple-coloured eyes became more obvious when they were not clouded with negativity.

"Yes, I am. I needed to get past you in order to reach my friends. Now, I can trust that you won't be in the aid of the Grey Knights ever again," Senya trusted, keeping his blank expression up.

"Wait, you're not going to kill me?" Kirai asked in doubt.

"No. I have no reason to eliminate you, since the light has been beaten into your dark clouded mind. Killing you will do nothing besides waste your equipment and gold," Senya replied. He turned around, back facing the defeated mage. "I will leave now. Do what you please, as long as it does not involve getting in my way, or hurting my friends."

As he began to walk towards the only door in the room, Kirai fell silent. Until she remembered something. "You won't be able to get to Cinereus' Office like that. He's probably trapped your friends in there already," she called out. Hearing this, Senya turned back around and halted his progress towards the door. "He gave me a warp spell that goes directly to his office. I don't think he blocked off those, unless he's deviated from the original plan..."

" _Plan? Cinereus and her had quite the co-ordination,_ " Senya thought, keeping the comment to himself. "And you plan to use it on me?"

"Yeah," Kirai finished. She whipped out a book of sorts and began drawing the same kind of circle that the Squire utilised to get the Masayoshi Hanta guild members into the castle, around Senya. "Thank you, Senya. I wish I could repay your kindness, but this is the best I can do."

"It is all you can do right now, to help me. My friends and I must tackle Cinereus on our own. Once he is defeated, the Grey Knights will be no more. Consider yourself free," Senya responded. "I thank you for your assistance here."

Kirai's smile widened enough so that it was clearly visible. "I'm happy to help. Now go defeat that stupid NPC that I once pleged my allegiance to. What was I thinking..." With that, she casted the spell and Senya disappeared.

At peace for the first time since her initial login into the game, Kirai departed from the castle, eagerly anticipating the fall of the guild she once was a part of. Senya was awaiting for the same, though he and his fellow guild members were the ones to ensure that it would happen.

 _4:19 AM - In-game Time_

 _Grey Knights' Castle, Cinereus' Office_

Following the defeat of the Grey Knights' only participant of the Ultimate Player process, Senya found himself re-appearing in the same room he and his guild once were in, during the undertaking of the Mirror Quest. Just as expected, he found his friends combating the red armoured Cinereus. A quick consumption of a Large Health Potion, a Large Technique Potion and a Medium Buff Potion led to Senya being at his best condition - ready for another fight.

"Cinereus," the tactician spoke, surprising everybody else in the room. "I have defeated Kirai and set her free from the shackles you have placed upon her. Thanks to her, I was able to warp directly here. I will not waste this opportunity."

"You beat her? But she was an Ultimate Player! A perfect warrior! How were you able to defeat her?" Cinereus asked, doubtful of Senya's claim.

"The same way I shall lead my friends to fight you: with strategy," Senya answered, walking over to his comrades. "Heal. I can see that your respective health points are low. Jonetsu, do the same with your magic points and Naohiro, the same with your buff points."

Without needing to question the orders, the other three members of the Masayoshi Hanta did as they were suggested. "Senya, we've been able to reduce his health to fifty-five out of his total of a hundred. What do you suggest we do now?" Kyohan asked the tactician.

"Jonetsu, use an Ice spell to freeze Cinereus' axe wielding hand. That way, he will not be able to use his weapon. Do the same with his other arm to ensure that he cannot break out of it easily," Senya ordered. "Once he is frozen, you all need to attack with your most powerful moves. Deal as much damage to him as possible. If he breaks out, scatter, then repeat the plan. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, except for Cinereus and Senya. Once the guild was ready to approach the fight, the leader of the Grey Knights moved forward at a slow pace. As per the plan, Jonetsu fired an Ice Bullet spell that was fast and is guaranteed to freeze its target, though it does not deal any damage. She did this on Cinereus' arms, preventing him from using them at all.

Kyohan dashed ahead, reeling her Adamant Lance back for a powerful stab. Naohiro readied a Piercing Arrow, combined with the Increase Range buff to deal extra damage. Jonetsu prepared her most powerful destructive fire based spell, while Senya merely used an Increase Attack buff and a Beam Outburst. All these attacks struck Cinereus dead-on, dealing 11 damage total, bringing the NPC's health down to 44/100.

Each member of the Masayoshi Hanta kept attacking (Senya alternated between Meteor Dive + Quick Cutter and Beam Outburst) until Cinereus thawed out, when his health was at 27/100. As Senya ordered, Jonetsu froze their foe once again, before he could even take two steps.

With another onslaught of attacks, spells and arrows, Cinereus' health was reduced to zero.

"I was defeated...with such a cheap trick!" Cinereus lamented, angered that he lost. "I deserve to live no longer...my dreams of ruling this world have been crushed. All I wanted to be was a monarch. That was taken away from me."

"Nobody asked for you to rule them," Kyohan spat. "The world is just fine without you."

"It seems that way...before I depart from this place, I shall release the three undergoing the Ultimate Player process. I will also remove their implants, so they go back to the way they were," Cinereus ended, grabbing a pen and paper from his overturned desk and writing down a letter. When he was finished, the handed the letter to Kyohan. "Give this to the scientists in the laboratory. Tell them that the Grey Knights are no more..."

"I will," Kyohan accepted. "That's what we came to do anyway."

Cinereus smirked. "Of course...now, for my last words: goodbye, world."

With that, Cinereus collapsed and his body broke into thousands of pieces, almost like a smashed pane of glass. He was dead, meaning that victory had been achieved for the Masayoshi Hanta.

"We did it! We actually did it!" Naohiro stated, filled with delight. "Now there's peace for you and Hitakaru, Senya. How are you feeling?"

No answer.

"Uh, Senya? We did a good! Aren't 'cha happy?" Jonetsu asked, trying to get the tactician to respond.

No response.

"He must be tired. After all, he's just done a lot of fighting. I know I'm exhausted," Kyohan assumed. She was not unnerved by Senya's failure to speak a word. "We're almost done. Just need to spread the word now."

Deep inside, Senya felt...happy. Relieved. Relieved that his friend was finally going to be able to get out of his depression. After what Hitake had done for him in the past - he had finally repaid the debt. And he was happy because of that.

So much so that he even started to show it with a smile. "Thank you..." he merely spoke to his guild members, who quickly noticed the change in facial expression. They too, started to smile.

"No problem," Naohiro responded to his fellow male.

"Awesome to see that you're not entirely broken from all this," Jonetsu half-joked.

Kyohan offered the tactician a high-five. "You deserve it."

Following some consideration of the sentiment and purpose behind the gesture, Senya accepted the friendly manoeuvre. The feeling of sharing a palm with another translated perfectly to the bonding that he was now achieving with these people. It matched something he felt a long time ago.

"Thank you, everyone," Senya thanked once again. "Let us go and finish what we have started: the downfall of the Grey Knights. We have succeeded."

Everyone was overjoyed. Hype was rushing through them, now that they had defeated one of the most prominent guilds in the entire game. To finish off, all they had to do was to report to the NPC scientists in the laboratory below. As that was done, they immediately removed the implants and in time, the bans were lifted. No more people were to undergo the Ultimate Player process. Not a single soul. Those that had their freedom saved as a result of the Masayoshi Hanta's actions soon found themselves able to rejoin the game.

It all returned to the way it was before. Including Hitake, whose joy could not be expressed through words. At least, his bond with Senshi strengthened even further than it had before. However, Senya's bond with Kyohan, Naohiro and Jonetsu had only one obstacle to overcome.


	14. Disclosure of a Past

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Senya, the black haired tactician of the Masayoshi Hanta guild and the in-game avatar of Senshi Pureya, sat down upon one of the two beds in the females' room belonging to the guild's headquarters. Parking his backside next to Kyohan who was in turn waiting for Senya to seat himself; the same with Naohiro and Jonetsu. Everyone was in their respective armours, keeping their eyes locked on the introverted seventeen year old.

Upon being seated, Senya started to speak in his monotone, unemotional tone of voice. "I do believe you all wish to know my past."

"Yeah," Kyohan responded, with a smile to her graceful face. "I still haven't forgotten that promise you made. It was to tell us why exactly you're so lonesome. Now, I don't believe it'll be a problem if you refuse, however, it would be nice for the sake of bonding."

Naohiro agreed. "It would be kind of bad on your part, Senya. Especially after Jonetsu and I have done the same to you."

"I understand. For a stable relationship to keep itself so, all the participants of the relationship must mutually understand each other," Senya nodded. He knew this moment was coming ever since he made that promise - his heart clutched, but this did not stop him. Never would he be fazed by something as weak as fear. "Early in my life, my parents treated me well. They cared for me like any good parent should."

Jonetsu was doubtful. "How the heck did ya become like this, then? Somethin's gotta be the problem…"

"School. That was the catalyst," Senya answered, also continuing with his story. "For the first few years, I never had a friend. No matter what the teachers or my parents attempted, I lacked the capacity to form a companionship with another person. I was then alone. Alone at school. Alone to tend to my work. Likely because of this, a certain someone started a terrible rumour regarding me; it was that I had some sort of mental imperfection. This led to people becoming verbally abusive to me and at first, I could not take it. As time passed, I grew numb to their words."

Kyohan and Naohiro realised what Senya was getting at, while Jonetsu awaited for the answer.

"That time is what brought me to become the sort of person I am now. Admittedly, in terms of personality and mind, I never evolved past that. Of course I have been through the stages that every child goes through on their path to adolescence, though nothing noteworthy came from those. Since then, I have almost always been this way," Senya added.

Masayoshi Hanta's brown-haired female noticed a certain word that Senya used, one that altered the meaning of his sentence. "Almost? Was there a moment when you weren't so stoic?"

A faint smile appeared on Senya's face. "Yes. Before I had truly become how I am, Hitake joined the school and immediately took a liking to me for whatever reason. Since he was not present during the initial spread of the rumour, he failed to understand it after taking the time to get to know me. At first, I remained distant to him but as he spoke, I could feel a warming aura coming from him. I felt...welcome. Like I was going to have my first real friend. Hitake has given me a great gift that I may never return, this was my determination for standing up to the Grey Knights."

Everybody else's hearts warmed once they heard this. Although they could not relate, their hearts could still feel the emotion behind Senya's voice and words. Kyohan was the first to break the small silence.

"Senya...you just want to be a good friend. You don't want to forget what Hitake's done for you and you want to repay him…" Kyohan assumed. "You really are a good person."

"I knew there had to be a reason for ya bein' so...like, how you've been," Jonetsu noticed, smiling as a result of the overflowing joy that was piercing her brain.

Naohiro agreed. He too was smiling like his two female comrades were. "At least there's something to you. Hey, just so you know Senya, we'll be right by you from now on."

"Uh-huh. You're truly a part of our guild now - all of our members must have a good connection with one another. Even if one of us turns out to be a horrible person…" Kyohan nodded, her mind bringing herself back in time and causing her to be slightly depressed.

"Kyohan…" Jonetsu cried. She snapped her same gender friend out of her trance with this. "Don't start thinkin' about that guy. He's long gone and won't bother us. At least, I hope."

"The way he left was almost ominous...I hope he doesn't try anything bad as well, Jonetsu," Kyohan replied.

Also having bitter memories of that particular person, Naohiro did his best to push them away. His personal anger against the man was heavily testing his resolve, but he managed to keep calm. When tension was still mild, Senya pushed it all away with a single question.

"What do you suggest we do now, Kyohan?"

Kyohan's gaze shot straight to Senya, like a gun aiming at its designated target. "I...We should carry on as we have been, per the norm. After all, there isn't much left to do," she stated, bringing her focus back to the present.

"Quests and stuff, right? That's what we're known for," Naohiro remarked, grinning.

"Exactly. We'll do what we've always done, now that what's happened has occurred. Everyone, let's do what's best and our best," Kyohan encouraged. Like a leader should, she always had a positive, determined aura around her. "I'm pretty sure we have a reputation now, thanks to what we ended. Let's do what we can to become really renowned."

Everyone except Senya responded with a spirited 'yeah', while the stoic teenager merely nodded. That was all Kyohan needed to ensure that his strength was on her group's side. Filled with resolution, the group ventured out of their 'base of operations' and proceeded to do what their leader stated previously - to do what was once commonplace for them all.

 _March 14th 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _5:46 AM (In-game Time) - Lacus Plains_

Following several hours' collaborative work, the guild (minus Senya, who had other business to attend to) found themselves walking down a dirt path that followed the outline of a large lake, right in the middle of an expansive plains. Quests do take their toll on the human body, despite the virtual world; this was a reality that the group members had to accept. However, another reality was about to rear its head into their business.

"It's a shame Senya had to go...that quest was pretty good. Finding that man's jewel in those ruins was long. Good thing it didn't have any puzzles, otherwise we would've taken a lot longer," Naohiro commented. He had his bow ready, in case if any danger were to appear.

Unluckily, that appeared to be the case. Two males: a tall, thin one and a short, fat one. Each member of the group knew who these fellows were all too well, unfortunately enough for them.

"It's nice to see you all again," Teckstar greeted the group with an imposing grin on his face. His stubbier companion, Ancho, had a similar grin but was also bearing teeth. Masayoshi Hanta's members readied their respective weapons. "I see you're without that insufferable Senya. Good."

"What do you want?" Kyohan started, cautious.

"You've gained quite the renown, haven't you? I'm here to talk about that," answered Teckstar. "You learned the secret of the Grey Knights and brought them down because of it. Honestly, Ancho and I were planning to do the same, though I felt we lacked the strength to do so. Then you just go and take them down for us."

Jonetsu raised an eyebrow. "And what?!"

"Thank you," Teckstar spoke after a second long pause. "You did my dirty work for me, so I am thanking you for that. It is all I wanted, maybe I'll see you fine folks later."

As the vile man and his chubby partner began to make their exit, Naohiro stretched out his arm in an attempt to stop them. "Wait!" he added for extra persuasive effect. Teckstar and Ancho returned their intimidating grins to the group, paying attention to whatever Naohiro had to say. "There's been something bugging me since after we first met. You two and Senya seemed to know each other already...what's up with that?"

"We go to the same school. In fact, you probably know already that he's quite the loner and was entirely on his own before Hitake showed up. I think that's because he has some sort of mental disease," Teckstar merely responded.

"Mental disease? That's what Senya said the rumour was about…" reminded Jonetsu.

Kyohan and Naohiro quickly realised what was up. "You! You're the one who spread that rumour about Senya! You're the one who made him an outcast to everyone in the school!" the former of the aforementioned two accused.

"Your point is?" Teckstar asked.

"What...? Do you not have any regret for doing it?" Kyohan questioned, angered. "You...you're evil! Why would you do something like that?"

Teckstar paused momentarily, gripping his blade in what seemed to be a vexation of his own. "His father..."

"Hey, we should get outta here Tecki..." Ancho heavily suggested. He noticed that his friend was starting to get emotion.

"You're right. I have no further business with these people," Teckstar agreed, turning to the left. "Goodbye, Masayoshi Hanta. We may see each other again someday."

With that last sentence embedded into the guild's minds, Senya's bullies sped away from the scene. It would not take much brainpower to figure out the possibilities of Teckstar's last sentence. Even Jonetsu knew what could happen.

"I wonder what they're planning..." Kyohan wondered aloud. "Can't be anything good."

"And what was that about Senya's father? This is just becoming really strange," added Naohiro. Not one to waste time on chances, Naohiro chose to focus on what was directly said.

"Looks like we just gotta watch out for each other," Jonetsu commented.

Nodding, Kyohan agreed. "Whatever they hit us with, we'll hit back with something harder. Senya will agree. Once we get back to base, let's tell him what we've just learned. Then we can prepare. You guys with me?"

The mage and the archer agreed, following their guild's leader back to their headquarters in Liquidum. As soon as they returned, each of them assumed that some new drama would show up. Exactly what drama was a mystery to them. Still, the members of the Masayoshi Hanta would keep moving forward.


	15. Vicus Massacre

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Sitting upon the bed furthest away from the door which belonged to the headquarters of the Masayoshi Hanta guild, Naohiro the archer flicked through the white-grey transparent menu that was in front of his face. Upon it were a lot of kanji - a message from the game's developers. He grinned as he began to read.

" _Players! As you all are likely aware thanks to the notification you should have received upon login, Lapis Pugna Online has been updated. In the past, there have been only minor updates to stats and the like. Major changes have taken place this time. First of all, the Defence stat now only counts towards the type of armour you can wear. This is due to complaints many of you have made regarding battles taking too long. Battles should now be much shorter, though to compensate for the change, we have added five points to every player's Health stat and we have rewarded everybody with 5000 gold,_ " Naohiro read in his mind.

" _We've also fixed some of the minor graphical glitches and we have eliminated the so-called Infinite Speed glitch. Many Wanted players have abused this glitch to their benefit. If there are any more bugs of this calibre, please contact the moderators on the official Lapis Pugna forums._ "

" _Now, we have a brand new feature we would like to share with you. You can now build your very own house! In order to do so, you will need to purchase a plot of land from the Architects that rest outside Vicus. Plots start off with the size of an average garden but their sizes can increase for a certain amount of gold. A Build Shop has been added to Vicus, where you can purchase materials that you will need to build a house. Find out more on how to build a house at our official update forum post, or the Information Architect. Have fun with the new update! - The Lapis Pugna Development Team._ "

Naohiro closed the menu and found the rest of his guild-mates standing around him, the females with a smile on their faces. Senya remained as his stoic self. The silver-haired one of the four returned the smiles with his own.

"Wanna come with us to get a house?" Kyohan asked.

"Yeah. I'm very interested in how this will work," Naohiro answered, standing up. "And the removal of Defence is a good decision. Battles do like to get drawn out in this game."

"I have noticed that as well," Senya spoke. "The development team are truly paying attention to our woes."

"That's good, 'cause I don't want a buncha idiots lookin' over the game," commented Jonetsu. She folded her arms, as if in some mock frustration.

Kyohan nodded. "I think that's what we all don't want, Jonetsu. Anyway, let's just get out of here."

With that, the Masayoshi Hanta departed from their now-defunct and ex-headquarters to proceed towards their future. A future of a brand new locale.

 _March 20th 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _5:20 AM - In-game Time_

All of the guild members had made their way across a multi-directional, sandy and stone-y path. It was quite a distance to Vicus from Liquidum, though it was clear of monster encounters. Once they started seeing a huge town that had buildings made entirely of quartz - everyone knew what had been found: Vicus.

"There's a lot of people here. I guess everybody's really excited about the new update. But, we're a part of them now, so who are we to talk?" Naohiro pointed out, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah, no kiddin'. If I didn't know about the update, I'd guess that somebody's havin' a birthday party here," Jonetsu added. She noticed the circular stone shrine, of which had a paper thin purple sphere inside of it. "What's that?"

"I theorise that it is a portal, perhaps to your plot of land. Though, there is only one...they must likely be in the testing stages for the feature. If the demand is high enough - they will include more portals. That is what I think," Senya over-theorised, causing his fellows to smile in appreciation of the teen's analytic brain. "A single portal is likely to be overcrowded, as we can see is the case here."

"That's true. Hopefully things clear up soon," agreed Kyohan. "I'll go and get the plot of land. Right now, I don't know if you can allow other people to enter your house, so I'll go check on that. Might end up needing some of your personal funds." The leader of the guild motioned to her three friends. When she got visual confirmation, Kyohan turned right around and headed into the hefty crowd.

Senya, Naohiro and Jonetsu stood to the side as to not block the road. At least, any more than it already is due to the crowd. Jonetsu parked herself onto the ground, Naohiro leaned on the wooden fence and Senya simply remained standing.

People were piling into the portal, while several folks re-appeared in spaces around the area that were devoid of anybody standing in them. A theory was that the latter people were returning from their homes. They did not come back through the portal likely to reduce the amount of players around the thing, as Senya suggested.

Only several short minutes had to pass before Kyohan returned. Before she spoke, she operated her menu.

"It's all good! I've made it so that you guys have access to the plot of land," the green-haired lance user informed her guild members whilst smiling.

"Sweet!" Jonetsu commented. "Wait a sec, how much did it cost?"

"Ten whole K," answered Kyohan. Naohiro narrowed his eyes, glaring at the guild leader for having used that particular phrase.

"Only ten K? Sure doesn't sound like a lot..." the dark red haired mage sounded her doubts.

"I am not certain, but I believe the reason why it costs so much is to prevent new players from purchasing their own houses early. Ten thousand is an amount that newer players will not have, unless they utilise grinding to obtain that amount as soon as possible. Players that have been-" Senya theorised.

Before being interrupted, much to the tactician's short, interal dismay. "-That doesn't matter. We've got the land, let's go check it out," Kyohan interjected. She cared for Senya, despite getting annoyed whenever he rambled onto one of his long winded theories about the most pointless of things.

As the guild entered the crowd, Naohiro ensured that no stranger tried anything 'funny'. They proceeded to the portal without much trouble and they all walked into it. Each of them were whisked away.

 _March 20th 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _5:36 AM - In-game Time_

Whisked away to a flat grassland that had a wooden fence which boxed the area in a square formation. Nothing was in the square, except the small blades of grass. Further inspection revealed the fence was twenty five metres tall and wide. Also, there was an invisible wall preventing the players from leaving the fenced in region.

"Aaaannnd...this is it?" Kyohan presented, with a somewhat disappointed look planted on her face. "I kinda expected more."

"The message did say the size of the land can increase, so this is likely the base level," Senya guessed. He was not sure if he was correct, only feeling as if he was.

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I don't suppose we'll need a lot of land for our new base. Since you're the better artist out of us, Jonetsu, stay here with me as we plan out the design of the building," Kyohan continued. "Senya and Naohiro, go out and buy all the materials and tools we need. Message me if you guys need more money."

Naohiro nodded, Senya did not. "Yes, Kyohan. Let's do it, Senya."

"Affirmative," the stoic one replied. He led the charge to the portal, which was in the middle of the back fence line. The girls stayed behind, beginning to plan out the design of the future Masayoshi Hanta HQ.

 _March 20th 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _5:41 AM - In-game Time_

Appearing back outside Vicus, near the point where the three guild members were waiting for their leader to finish with business, Senya and Naohiro prepared themselves to push and shove through the crowd.

Though, something was different. A player sounded his voice through the area even before the two males could start to make their way through the thinning crowd. Everyone's attention was fixed on him.

"Everybody! To celebrate the release of this new feature, I'm hosting a party!" the player, who had a white Dragon armour set equipped (the most powerful set of armour in the game, Senya noted) to match his long white hair. "I've made my house available for anyone to enter. And if you've got your own house already, there's a menu that lets you choose whichever place you want to warp to. Anybody's welcome!"

Cheering emerged. A cheer of happiness, for the realisation that fun was certainly to be had at this party. Tons and tons of people flocked to the portal after the player did, with the crowd decreasing to a minimal amount as a result. Naohiro seemed pleased.

"That works," the silver-haired archer remarked, somewhat surprised by what had just occurred. He noticed that Senya was in deep thought. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine. I was merely noting that person's armour...Dragon. This means that he has a Defence stat high enough to be able to wear it. He must have been playing this game for quite some time, to be able to get that much experience," Senya guessed. "I am unable to say for certain."

"Alright...not sure why you decided to focus on that, but let's just get those materials," Naohiro responded, taking temporary command, leading the pair into Vicus and many of its shops.

Much later, the duo departed from the Build Shop, having purchased a good amount of items needed to build the place they wanted. Wood, stone, glass, a hammer and metal: all of them were on the list. It did not cost much to get the number of things the guild wanted, so no issues befell them.

At least not as they were purchasing materials. Whilst Senya and Naohiro were walking back to the portal, they happened upon a strange sight - a player killed another.

"W-what?!" Naohiro questioned aloud. "That's not even possible. Every single place in the game that isn't the Wasteland has PvP disabled! How did that guy kill the other guy?"

"I haven't a clue. Or, perhaps, I do," Senya realised, having thought of an idea straight after saying he did not. "This new housing feature is just that: new. It is likely to have glitches, errors in its programming."

"So you're saying this is a glitch?" Naohiro asked. He needed reassurance.

"Yes. As a matter of fact-" answered Senya, before he got interrupted by a sword slash striking him in the side, forcing him to tumble onto the ground in shock. He noticed that he took damage from the attack. "Excuse me?"

The male player that attacked was a large, burly one. "I dunno what's going on, but I'm gonna use this to take your items once they've dropped! That's after I kill you, of course."

Removing the element of messing around, Senya retaliated with a sword slash of his own. If he could. Instead, his blade was frozen in the air, limited by the town's programming. It was clear to him now.

"This is most certainly a glitch. We cannot fight back, for we are not under the effects of it," Senya discovered. Before another slash could be inflicted upon him, the tactician stood up. "Naohiro, let us retreat to our home and shelter there until the glitch becomes fixed."

Knowing that talking equalled a higher chance of death, Naohiro nodded and followed Senya as they both sped out of the town as fast as they could. Explanations were in order.

 _March 20th 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _5:58 AM - In-game Time_

Explanations were certainly present. Questions came flying from the mouths of Kyohan and Jonetsu, while they were flung back to the senders in the form of direct answers from Senya and Naohiro. First off was the most obvious question.

"Why the heck did you guys run right into here?" Jonetsu started, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow in confusion. Kyohan made no such visual statements of her emotion and kept her arms by her side.

"Some glitched players were running around killing other players in Vicus," Naohiro directly answered, visibly worried from the fear of losing hard earned items. Senya did not seem like he cared, though he did on the inside.

"Glitched players?" Kyohan pointed out.

Senya was the one to answer this. "With the advent of a new feature, there is a high chance it will have some sort of fault. I have theorised that these glitched players have something to do with the House feature. We will likely get an official statement from the developers some time later."

Exactly that happened, approximately thirty minutes later when every single player was logged out of the game. A message was sent to all players' inboxes immediately after they logged back in half an hour later, containing the following words:

" _Our sincerest apologies, players. The recently released House feature has caused a bug enabling certain players to attack others outside of the Wasteland. We were able to quickly determine the cause and fix it. It seems that the recent party hosted by the player 'Cured' has caused this. 'Cured' had enabled player vs player on his property and due to the big number of players that attended the party, some started to abuse the legal killing._ "

" _Those that abused this were removed from the property by the system, but their PvP status had not been removed. Since then, we have banned the glitched players that abused their special position and have restored Cured's property to the way it was before. All lost items have been returned to their rightful owners. We apologise for any inconveniences this has caused._ "

Kyohan, Senya, Naohiro and Jonetsu finished reading around the same time as one another. With many a silent sigh of relief, the guild members got to work on their new base.


	16. One Slash Axe

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

"There's been a new update. Again," Naohiro told the other three members of the Masayoshi Hanta guild, whom were all seated at various points of a dark wood table. He had an irritated expression on his face, leaving his comrades to be curious as to what the update holds.

Everyone was inside the guild's new headquarters, built with the use of Lapis Pugna Online's week-old House feature. It was a relatively small abode with a size matching that of an average wooden cabin. It had only two floors, but it had enough bedrooms for each member of the Masayoshi Hanta along with a kitchen, dining room and a general sitting room.

"What the?" Jonetsu asked rhetorically, confused after checking the 'Announcements' option that was on the menu.

All four of them were in the dining room. It was decently sized, meaning that the table Senya, Kyohan and Jonetsu were sitting at had necessary space. The kitchen was only next door. Kyohan and Senya followed suit after the mage.

" _Hello players! We have just updated the game once more! Not to worry, we have been extensively bug testing this one - it's the reason why this update did not come straight after the last. We've fixed several glitches that you have been reporting, so you should all be having a better experience with the game. The most important addition we have included is a new weapon: the God Axe. It is the most powerful weapon. Why? Because it can kill any enemy in a single attack,_ " the message read.

Upon reading the last sentence, the Masayoshi Hanta members had their feelings changed from confusion to surprise. Then they read on.

" _To find it...well, that's something you'll need to find out for yourselves. All we can say is that it will not be difficult. Have fun!_ " the message finished. Everybody closed their menus and got to conversing.

"How peculiar...a weapon with the power to eliminate any single hostile entity in one blow. No doubt that it will bring an imbalance to the game," Senya commented. "Most notably, in the player killing, skilling and questing fields."

"I agree," nodded Naohiro. "If a lower level player gets their hand on this God Axe, then any challenge the game throws at them will be null."

"But'cha mentioned player killin'. Isn't that gonna cause a problem with players bein' killed left, right and center?" Jonetsu brought up, picking out a certain detail from Senya's words.

Kyohan folded her arms and frowned. "Why would we care about that? Player killing is wrong and should be abolished from the game entirely. It's the very thing that causes players to leave the game and never come back. If anything, the God Axe would get rid of PKing."

"And you would deny the joy of others?" Senya refuted, turning to face the green haired lance user. "People take part in it because they enjoy it. If a player gets killed by another, then it is only the victim's fault. They knew precisely what they would be getting into, because the Wilds warn any player that attempts to enter. Let people do as they wish, Kyohan. Do you have some sort of prejudice against player killers?"

"As a matter of fact I do!" Kyohan responded. She had become visibly angered. "You didn't know Yoku. That bastard was a despicable human being...he's one of the most revered player killers out there. He only became popular when he left our guild. I can't even begin to speak about the horrible things he's done to us..."

Naohiro and Jonetsu's hearts clenched. Senya raised an eyebrow, fighting back his sympathy enough to keep his realistic mind. "One person does not represent an entire group. It is the people that define the group. I am certain not all player killers are vile, similar to how we are unlike the now-disbanded Grey Knights."

"...!" Kyohan tried to combat this statement, but she hadn't a thing to say.

"He's right. Sorry to say this Kyohan, but it's kinda hypocritical to think that way," Jonetsu stated.

"Not only that, even if you don't focus on the dangers it has to PKing, skillers will find their attack stat increasing at a much faster rate and questers will be blazing through each quest they find. That is, if they get their hands on the axe," Naohiro added, agreeing with Senya. "And what if another Vicus Massacre happens? That God Axe won't let victims have a chance to get away."

Kyohan fell silent for some time. Only after two minutes she spoke once again. "...Fine. But I'm not doing this for Yoku, got that?! I will never assist that man."

"You won't hafta. Let's not think about that guy, huh?" Jonetsu persuaded her friend.

The green haired one nodded slowly and forced her head onto the table, where she began to weep. Jonetsu immediately comforted her.

"Head outside, you guys. I'll take care of Kyohan," the red-haired mage ordered the two males. She placed a hand on her saddened friend's back, to try and fill her with positive emotions due to being close to a good friend.

This was all it took for Senya and Naohiro to wait outside the house.

 _March 27th 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _6:32 AM - In-game Time_

Once Naohiro seated himself upon one of the three wide steps to the abode's front door and when Senya leaned on the pillar that held the second floor's balcony up, the two began talking.

"You're probably wondering just who this Yoku guy is, right?" Naohiro assumed, not bothering to tilt his head to converse properly.

"It seems as if memories involving this person leave Kyohan with nothing but sadness. Indeed, I wonder why this is the case," Senya answered.

Naohiro sighed. Not of irritation, but of dread. "His full name is Yokunai Juusan. Yoku is his username, which as you can tell, is a shortening of his first name. Anyway, before joining our guild, he was just an ordinary player. He specialised in two-handed weapons. Yoku was a decent addition to our team, however, after some time passed, we all discovered he was a player killer."

"That cannot be why," Senya presumed, cutting into Naohiro's story. "Something as trivial as that would not mentally scar a strong leader like Kyohan. No matter how terrible it is, do tell me."

"Oh dear...if you really want to know, then be my guest. I'll have to build up to it a little, though. So after we confronted him about being a PKer, he shrugged it off and claimed it was false. At this point, Kyohan and him had been dating for some time in real life, so she pleaded with us to let him stay. Of course, we accepted. Then, it turned out..." Naohiro winced.

"What is the matter?" asked the tactician of the four.

"...He raped her," Naohiro finished, gulping his words. "Kyohan told us this through a private message, once she could get away from him. That's when we decided to kick him out of the guild."

Even Senya found himself wordless. He hadn't expected to learn about something so vulgar and disgusting. Despite these horrified emotions, he kept his cool. "I see. Now I understand the true nature of this man. Though I have not met him, I hold an intense hatred for such a despicable being. May we never cross paths, Yokunai."

Silence then fell, for several more minutes until the point that Kyohan and Jonetsu emerged from the building. The former of the pair's eyes were visibly red due to the tearful session, but she was no longer upset and failed to sniffle.

"I'm sorry about that, everyone...I don't want to talk or focus about him any more. Right now, let's think about getting that God Axe away from any other player," Kyohan commanded, regaining her stature as a leader. "Any plans, Senya?"

"Yes," Senya responded. "I have been thinking about this since we first heard of the weapon, meticulously calculating each and every variable that may have a hand in changing the course of the plan. To start, we must wait."

"Wait? What good is that gonna do?" Jonetsu had doubts already.

"Doing so will allow other people to uncover the weapon for us. This forgoes our need to search for it, making proceedings much easier. Once we locate the one with the axe, we shall challenge them to a fight and claim the weapon as our prize. If that does not work, then we shall bargain for it. In the event that fails, we must force the player to the Wilds and take the axe from them," explained Senya, who turned to Kyohan once he was finished speaking. "Are you okay with this?"

"...For the sake of the community, we can't let the God Axe fall into the wrong hands. We must do whatever we can. I accept your plan Senya, but I hope it does not resort to PKing," Kyohan accepted. "Let's do some quests in the meantime. We can build up our experience so we're ready for that fight."

Taking Kyohan's lead, the other three members of the Masayoshi Hanta followed their leader out into the game world, doing exactly as she desired: completing quests.

 _March 29th 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _5:43 AM - In-game Time_

It would only take two days for the God Axe to be found, specifically by a player called 'Okina'. A large fellow - someone who seems to be proficient in axes. Naturally, he would be the one to find and discover the God Axe. He had only discovered it an hour ago, walking along a forest proudly and cautiously.

"Oh man, I still can't get over it! Me! I found the God Axe all on my own!" Okina exclaimed, overjoyed at his lucky find. "I've gotta be the envy of all other players! I could use this to be the strongest player around!" He examined the gold axe, taking in its brilliance. Due to this, he failed to notice the four players that surrounded him by dropping down from the tree branches above.

"Now that'd be fun, wouldn't it?" Kyohan asked. "Unfortunately, that thing is way too powerful for anybody to have. That's why we're gonna dispose of it."

"You punks? You really believe you have a chance against the power of this thing?" Okina doubted, brandishing his glorious weapon for all to see.

"Strategy always overcomes power," Senya merely added.

Okina smirked. His steel armour set shined in the radiance of the sun, whenever it could get through the dense collection of leaves. "Not this kinda power. Tell ya what, if you somehow beat me, I'll let ya have it. I'm a man of my word." He pointed to Kyohan.

"Sure. I'd love to wipe that smirk off your face...player killer," Kyohan barked. Her eyebrows crossed, but her mouth garnered a hateful smile. Okina was taken aback by this disclosure, as was Senya, Jonetsu and Naohiro.

"W-what?! How did you know that I was a PKer? I thought I've made my identity pretty well hidden!" Okina cried, demanding to know the truth.

"Okina, the mysterious PKer. I've done some research of my own and I've found that there have been many incidents of PKing from a player who changes their looks every time he kills someone. I had to do some digging, but I discovered that some players found your username when they were killed by you. When the game revealed who obtained the God Axe..." Kyohan started to explain. "...I had a moment of such joy. I hate player killers, so to put a notorious one in their place is like letting a child play with their favourite toy. They'll go to town on it."

Utterly shocked, Okina found himself with a duel request from Kyohan. Naohiro and Jonetsu were slightly freaked out by Kyohan's tone change to that of an almost creepy one, while Senya was not surprised to see this sort of quiet rage coming from her. Okina nervously accepted the request.

He was forced to watch Kyohan's unnerving facial expression for ten seconds. When the timer stopped, Kyohan disappeared from sight. Okina did his best to slash with his God Axe, but he missed his target. Kyohan reappeared in front of her opponent and gave him a single stab powered by the 'Pierce' Buff. Combined with her speed and Buff that ignores armour, Okina's health dropped to one and the duel was over.

"You're a man of your word. I believe it's time for you to give me what I want," Kyohan's smile had only gotten worse. Her teeth were showing at this point. Through many stammers and short utterances, Okina reluctantly dropped the God Axe and teleported away. She took the axe and turned to face her guild-mates. Luckily for them, Kyohan was back to normal.

"I didn't know you had it in you..." Naohiro remarked.

"The capacity to display such fearfulness. It is a respectable quality, though I question your current mental state," Senya added.

Kyohan giggled. "Oh, it's nothing to worry about. I just really, _really_ hate player killers. It's always good to vent once in a while, right?"

"Very true," Senya replied, before his mind turned to something slightly unrelated. "I've noticed something."

Naohiro, Jonetsu and the now-calm Kyohan were confused by this statement. "What's up?" the mage of the four asked.

"There have been a number of updates recently, whereas this level of frequency was not the case some time ago. As well as this, each update has been rather outlandish in a sense. The House update brought the Vicus Massacre while this update included an overpowered weapon. I am unsure what the development team are trying to accomplish."

"Best not to think too much about that kind of thing. As long as they're not making the game pay-to-win, it shouldn't really matter if they're adding in new stuff," Kyohan commented.

"Correct. However, I cannot be rid of this foreboding feeling..." Senya finished, right before he and his guild warped back to their abode, letting the rest of the game's community stay as it was thanks to their possession of the God Axe.

That feeling would never stay from Senya's mind.


	17. Infiltration From a Strange Player

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Senya, the black haired tactician of the Masayoshi Hanta guild, sat down on the bench belonging to the town of Ignis. A locale that had all of its buildings in a dark red colour. The bench itself was resting against a random building and seemed to be for public use.

He was waiting for somebody. Someone he cares for dearly.

"What's up, Senshi?" Hitakaru, the in-game avatar of Senya's real life best friend, greeted. The orange haired iron armour wearing player sat down next to the steel armour wearer.

"Everything is at an acceptable level. Nothing is wrong, Hitake. How are you?" Senya returned the greeting, smiling.

"Yep, same deal here. I guess you wanna hear about King now, right? Got to warn you, I don't know everything about him," Hitakaru continued, leaning onto the back of the bench.

"That is fine. A small amount of information is all I require," Senya assured.

"Okay then. I sure hope you're paying attention," Hitakaru started to explain. He almost felt the need to clear his throat. "Well, King only joined right after the Vicus Massacre got sorted out and that was like two weeks ago. But get this! He's already at Level 200!"

Senya was surprised, visibly so. His usual stoic self prevented his expression from going any further than slightly widened eyes. "He is that strong? With only two weeks worth of levelling? That is impossible. He must have utilised some sort of exploit - there is no other way he could have done that."

"I dunno either, but it's the truth. Lots of people have been reporting that King's been walking around the game, doing nothing," recounted Hitakaru. "Just thought you should know. Maybe your guild can do something about him."

"Strategy may assist you in winning battles, but against a foe whose strength is far beyond your entire group's respective strengths combined, there is little one can do. I shall converse with the rest of the Masayoshi Hanta. Thank you," Senya thanked his best friend. He got up and nodded slightly as he said his thanks.

"No problem, Senya," Hitakaru returned the favour, grinning. Before Senya could teleport back to his guild's base of operations, the orange-haired teenager had something to say. "I should be thanking you."

"You're welcome, Hitakaru," Senya agreed. As he pressed the 'Warp to House' button on his menu, Senya had a great smile on his face that reflected the one Hitakaru had on himself.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _6:24 AM - In-game Time_

Shortly afterwards, the tactician returned to his fellow guild-mates at the Masayoshi Hanta's wooden abode. Senya ensured that everyone was in the dining room, which doubled as their briefing room thanks to the large table that was inside it. The other three waited nervously and almost excitedly on what they were about to be told.

Once Senya informed them of the strange player 'King', confusion and shock were commonplace amongst them all.

"A player that got to level 200 in just two weeks..." Kyohan was the first to comment. "That's not right."

"Shouldn't he be considered a Wanted player? If he was, we'd have known and done something about him by now," Naohiro pointed out, folding his arms.

"What could we do against him? I'm only level 72! I don't even stand a chance, let alone you guys," refuted Kyohan.

"Perhaps a spell would be effective? Paralyzation?" Senya suggested, who assumed a thinking pose. "But this is all hypothetical. Since King is not a Wanted player, we cannot kill him without bringing him to the Wilds."

"Ugh, we gotta do somethin'! If that guy tells everybody about how he got to level 200 so quickly, then the game'll be ruined! Everybody'd be OP!" Jonetsu sighed.

The four guild members fell silent for a moment, each of them in deep thought. Kyohan was the one who broke the half-minute long silence.

"Why not just trail the guy? Maybe we can find out more about him if we stick to the shadows and watch."

Jonetsu and Naohiro agreed with the idea. Even Senya thought it was a good plan. "Admittedly, I did not think about this. Partly because I thought there was some sort of sensory ability that you could obtain through levelling up. It seems the positivity that is radiating through this room is forcing me to think otherwise."

"I'm glad you see things my way, Senya," Kyohan smiled, mimicking a typical villain. "Even if we get spotted, he won't be able to challenge or even attack us. We'll be fine."

"I trust ya, Kyohan! You've never failed us!" Jonetsu supported.

Kyohan giggled slightly, giddy from the support and overall feel of the current situation. "Thanks, Jonetsu. I appreciate that. As for you all, including myself, let's get to hunting this 'King' person. A part of me thinks he's a hacker. And we don't like hackers, do we?" She again put on a mock villainous voice.

"Oh no, miss. We don't like them," Naohiro joined in on the mock action.

The green-haired leader garnered a fake villainous grin. "Then let's get rid of this fool who seems to be one of them! Away, my hunters! Away!"

Naohiro led the charge, keeping the mock enthusiasm going. He played his role well - perhaps a little too well in Senya and Jonetsu's eyes. They failed to engage with the fun, the latter being too dumb to understand why they were doing it and the former being too smart to understand the same thing. Still, their hearts were in the same places as each other. The guild members rolled out.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _6:58 AM - In-game Time_

Within a large forested area, known to all of the game's players, developers and the game itself as Silvosus Forest, the Masayoshi Hanta were on the trail of a player who was wearing a heavy golden armour. He was not armed with anything, but despite this, the player strolled casually.

At least he had every right to do so. It's not like anybody could challenge him. The members of the Masayoshi Hanta knew this, for King was the highest levelled player in the game.

" _That must be him. He matches the description everyone's been telling us about,_ " Kyohan typed into the 'Group Messaging' feature of the game's messaging system. This allowed for optimum stealth, as the four were atop tree branches whilst they looked down upon the regal seeming player.

" _looks like he's on another stroll. he looks like a smug dude,_ " observed Jonetsu.

" _What exactly are we going to do here?_ " Naohiro wondered. He and everyone else had put their weapons away before entering the forest - doing that made stealth much easier. " _It's not like fighting him's an option. I'm sure he's unlocked some sort of buff that allows him to resist status effects or something._ "

" _And we will not know that until we try. When a plan fails, you must always have a backup. Plan Bs are made for that very reason,_ " Senya reassured the silver-haired one. " _Try to limit your breathing. It is likely he will be able to hear that._ "

" _Good thing we resorted to using private messaging,_ " Kyohan reminded.

She and the rest of the 'gang' proceeded along the branches, ensuring to move quick enough so that they kept King in their sights but slow enough that the branches failed to make a noise. This allowed the quartet to remain undetected.

Until something happened.

"I know you're there, Masayoshi Hanta. Get down here," King demanded. His voice was incredibly deep and had a certain tone to it that made him feel even more dangerous than he already was.

The four guild members were astonished King knew about their presence. Even they, who were the sources of the sounds they made, could not hear the sounds. " _How did he hear us?_ " Naohiro messaged, trying to keep all of their identities hidden.

" _He must be bluffing. There is no possible method he could have used to hear us. It is possible that we were somewhat too loud, but I do not feel that is the case. Either way, there is little meaning for us all to remain here if he knows we are following him. He is likely going to cut down all these trees to reveal our location if we fail to comply,_ " Senya guessed.

" _Then let's meet that bluff!_ " Kyohan typed. She was the first to drop to the ground, landing perfectly on her feet. Naohiro came after her, as did Jonetsu and Senya.

King merely approached the guild members slowly and intimidatingly. He stopped marginally in front of them. "Ah yes, the infamous Masayoshi Hanta. I knew you were following me."

"And how d'you know that?" Jonetsu asked, unfazed by the large male's appearance.

"I had a hunch. It seems like I was correct, wasn't I?" King rhetorically questioned in return. "I am very familiar with you all...except you, my friend." He pointed at Senya and walked closer to him. "You're a mystery to me."

"Mystery? Certainly, I can see why you would think that. Even my guild-mates had trouble following me in the past," Senya stated. "Do I know you from some-"

Just like that, King punched Senya in the face, the force of which was enough to send him tumbling down to the earthly ground. Senya was embracing the pain against his will. King's stature never changed throughout this proceeding.

"I hate you all. Every single one of you," King barked, his voice becoming violent. "But you'll feel it. The pain."

Kyohan and Naohiro had gone down to check on Senya. His health hadn't dropped, though the punch had hurt. The tactician was helped back up by the archer.

"What do ya mean, 'the pain'?" air-quoted Jonetsu. "I'm pretty sure whatever it is, Senya felt it when you hit him in that face! Tell us what that was for, you idiot!"

"Not that. You'll feel it when it comes. I am aware of what you four have been doing - as have the other players. Eradicating the Grey Knights was a bold move, yet you were able to do it somehow. Very impressive. Your co-ordination and friendliness...I envy it all," King commented.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Kyohan interrogated.

"...I'm the god of this world. I'm not an NPC, I'm a real person. Don't confuse me for one of them. Say goodbye to your freedom," King answered. He clicked his fingers and disappeared, leaving a sense of dread that lingered for some time.

Senya, Kyohan, Naohiro and Jonetsu were all more than confused. However, despite this confusion, something urged Senya to check his menu and scroll downwards. At the very bottom - where the log out button _should_ be - was a blank window. As was the case for the other three.

"Oh...he's done it," Kyohan commented. Her voice became but a whimper of fear.

"I had a feeling something was faulty with the developers. But, I don't feel as if they did this. King must have hacked into the system," Senya estimated. He was truthfully fearing this, despite what his stoic nature may say. "We must find him."

Amongst the despair, Senya's words gave everybody else something to focus on, something that put their minds at ease. Their next course of action was decided.


	18. There's No Escape

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

After having decided their next course of action, the Masayoshi Hanta began to walk away from their current position in Silvosus Forest. King, the mysterious player who had some renown to him, made the log-out button useless. It was removed entirely. Nothing was where the button once existed. Comparisons were made.

"You know, this is kind of like that whole incident with that Sword Art Online game," Kyohan began. "I think that game's log-out button was also removed."

"I guess that makes sense. But that incident also involved real life death, didn't it? It can't be the same way for us..." Naohiro pointed out, becoming increasingly scared with each passing second.

'No way! That King guy seemed smarter than that Kaya-whatever guy. The dev of SAO, I mean. Don't think King would do anythin' like that," Jonetsu refuted.

Senya spoke up. "How do you suppose he has this power over the game? He must be some sort of administrator. Perhaps he is a developer, a worker at Big Dreamers."

The other members of the guild glanced at Senya with a surprised, eyebrow raised expression.

"What? Who're they?" Jonetsu questioned.

"Big Dreamers. They are the developers of Lapis Pugna Online. Did you not know that?" Senya answered, himself also surprised.

"N-no...I'm surprised I only just found that out. How have we ignored such a detail until now?" Kyohan responded. "Anyway, we should probably start trying to find King. I'm scared that some players are freaking out because of this. If we see anybody in emotional pain, let's help them. I can't bear to think how some might be handling this…"

"Then don't! It's always better to be runnin' than it is to be walkin'," Jonetsu reassured her faltering friend.

Kyohan's frown turned into a smile. "You're right. Thanks, Jonetsu."

With that in mind, the Masayoshi Hanta made their way to the nearest town.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _7:03 AM - In-game Time_

Ignis. A town with buildings that seemed as if they had been scorched a long time ago. A town that embraced the element of fire, with lava flowing underneath the locale, visible through panes of glass that run alongside the yellow sandstone path.

The Masayoshi Hanta approached Ignis from the west entrance, Silvosus Forest being visible several metres away. Interrupting one of Senya's elongated meaningless theorems, the horrified cries of a girl could be heard.

"Don't worry about it, Kyohan! Forget about the why and focus on the now! Let's help that girl!" Jonetsu forcefully suggested. She led the charge into the fire soaked town, right towards the largest building located in the centre of town.

Inside of the first floor belonging to the four storey department shop, sandstone covered the ground. Several counters were placed at the back, left and right walls. The section on the right looked as if it was selling furniture pieces, evidenced by the random sofas and tables dotted around the lined out section.

On the red sofa was the crying girl.

"Hey there, are you okay?" Kyohan started in an attempt to comfort the brown skinned, dark haired girl. She was wearing steel armour, suggesting that her Defence stat was at a level comparable to that of Senya's.

"D-didn't you hear? ...The log-out button's been removed!" the girl cried. Somehow, she was able to speak through her audible sobs.

"Oh, we know already," answered Kyohan. "My friends and I are trying to get to the bottom of this. We know who did it."

Hearing this, the girl calmed her sobbing a little. "Wha-really? Who?"

"King. That level 200 player everyone's been talking about? It seems there was more to him than meets the eye," Kyohan told the stranger. After a quick wiping and rubbing of her eyes, the girl was no longer upset.

"That guy? Really?" the girl asked, slightly doubtful.

"We believe he has total administrative control over the game. Either he is a hacker, or he is a developer. Big Dreamers must be in trouble," Senya cut in. "It is a shame that we cannot contact anybody in the outside world."

"Probably…" the girl agreed. "But uh, thank you guys so much for helping me out there. As soon as I found out, I panicked and ran all the way here. Being in this sort of situation was one of my biggest fears when I first got my AmuSphere."

"Me too," Naohiro nodded.

Before the archer could add to his words, Jonetsu had discovered something while looking at her menu through partial boredom. She needed everybody's attention.

"Guys...there's a new announcement. It's from King," she informed the others. They all rushed to the announcements page, shaking with fear and anticipation as to what King had to say.

The message read: " _Dear players of this dreadful game...you must all be aware of your perilous position by now. If not, I don't regret to inform you that I have removed your log-out feature. You shall never escape the boundaries of virtual reality. While I cannot enforce the same lethal method Akihiko Kayaba used, I can ensure that your respective headsets cannot be removed, which I have done. To escape, you must clear 100 floors...I'm kidding. See? I do have a sense of humour. Anyway, I've spawned a Level 85 Gigantic Dragon in Incipien. I'm curious to see what all of your teamwork is like. Consider this a social experiment. I'll talk to you all later. - King._ "

Each of the five players inside the department building's ground floor were utterly shocked at this revelation. Senya began his usual analysation.

"King is able to spawn a high leveled creature wherever he pleases. He must have total control of the system," Senya observed. "What could his limit be, if he has one at all? And how did it come to this?"

"I guess we can't just stick around here thinkin'. We gotta go beat that dragon to see what else King's got lined up for us," stated Jonetsu. She gripped her fist using her renewed level of energy.

Kyohan nodded, agreeing with the mage's idea. Then her mind turned to the stranger. "Hey, do you wanna come with us?"

"No no...I wouldn't be able to do much. I'm only level 29," the girl shook her head.

"And? Levels don't mean much when you've got a whole army. Besides, we've got the best tactician in the game on our side. Commanding a few hundred people will be no problem for him, right Senya?" Naohiro wondered, turning to the black haired teen next to him.

"Right," Senya confirmed. "There would be more to memorise, but the overall difficulty of such a task should not be too high."

"Heh, oh yeah...I should be expecting this from the people who got rid of the Grey Knights. I have to thank you for doing that, I never liked them in the first place," the girl thanked the guild. "I think I'll stay here. Hundreds of other players will probably be there instead. Thanks again for helping me out."

"No problem," Kyohan smiled. She then turned her attention to her fellow Masayoshi Hanta members. "We should get going. Maybe we can do something about that Gigantic Dragon."

Accepting the order, the tactician, mage and archer followed the lancer out from the building and they all started running their way to the first town of the game.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _7:17 AM - In-game Time_

Exact to what King had described, a large grey dragon was attacking the town of Incipien. Due to Lapis Pugna's dynamic world system, whatever the dragon struck would be visibly affected and would remain that way until somebody fixes it. This is only one of the reasons why the game was so unique.

Another reason was the number of players that had banded together to defeat the Gigantic Dragon. Precisely nine hundred and seventy one out of the twelve thousand, five hundred and twenty six players currently online. Four more were about to enter the fray.

The Masayoshi Hanta had to make their way to the easternmost part of town, on the field next to the entire place. A large group of people had gathered there. Some were dying even as the guild members absorbed their surroundings. Naohiro was the one to notice the lack of people on the rooftops, which were accessible via stairs inside the buildings. Senya used this to his advantage and got on top of one of the buildings, looking upon the battle from his higher position.

" _Melee attackers are attempting to strike the beast with their swords...it does not seem to be working too well,_ " Senya thought. A two-handed sword user got slashed away by the dragon after an attempted jump slash. " _Mages and archers would be the best for this sort of situation. They seem to understand that and are utilising their stronger spells to eliminate the dragon quickly. I now understand._ "

Senya paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts into a cohesive sentence.

"Listen to me, everybody! I have a plan to vanquish this beast once and for all! I certainly hope you shall listen," Senya called out, his deep voice booming around the land.

"Hey, it's that guy from the Masayoshi Hanta! The tactician!" one random male player recognised.

"If he was the dude behind the charge against the Grey Knights, he's gotta be really smart! We should hear him out!" another male player, a single handed sword user, realised.

An uproar of 'yeahs' emerged, though the stronger shield users were doing their best to distract the dragon for the time. Senya had a crowd in his hands.

"Thank you for your acceptance. Now, all melee attackers must move away from the beast! Striking an airborne creature only leaves you open and increases the chance of death. As we all know, dying in this game makes you lose several of your items. You would not want that. Instead, melee users must provide support by giving mages and archers all of the buffs that you can give them. Also try to throw your weapons at the beast. Mages with the Telekinesis spell, you must retrieve the thrown weapons when they either fall onto the ground or become attached to the dragon's skin."

The melee attackers took this to mind and retreated slightly, waiting for the next set of instructions. Six of the twelve shielders had been killed by this point, so Senya hurried himself as much as he could.

"As for mages and archers, keep doing what you were doing. Use your MP Potions only when your meters have dropped to zero. Alternate between your stronger spells and your weaker spells so that your MP does not decrease too quickly. Shield users and tanks, do your best to keep the Gigantic Dragon's aggression on you. Everyone else, do what your role does best. Do not die. That is all."

A loud "right" sounded from the inactive crowd. More shielders and tanks joined the now group of three shield users, while everyone else followed their respective orders. The Masayoshi Hanta did the same, with Jonetsu and Naohiro joining the firing line with other mages and archers. Kyohan used what little buffs she could use, throwing her lance at the dragon when she felt like it. She would get her weapon back shortly after.

On the other hand, Senya fired several Beam Outbursts to strike the Gigantic Dragon from the comfort of the rooftop. Luckily, he had several Technique Potions on him, so he would not run out of the beam move for quite some time.

The Gigantic Dragon's health lowered much faster than it did before. Because of Senya's intervention, the beast was killed in only eight minutes. Nobody gained any rewards, however. Not a single experience point or gold. Following a short round of confusion and wonder, a familiar golden armoured player appeared in mid-air where the dragon once was.

"King!" Kyohan barked, loud enough so that everyone heard her.

"Hello, everyone. As you now know, I am your King. Just call me King," the strange 'player' greeted the army. "It is time for me to show you the depth of my revenge."


	19. A King's Loyal Subjects

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

King had arrived. After the nine hundred plus players had vanquished the unusually strong Gigantic Dragon, the strange one responsible for it all had shown himself. Most were shocked, others were angered. A third category shared both emotions.

"Get outta here!" someone yelled at the golden armoured player.

This did not faze him. When a mage shot an electric spell at him, everyone was filled with a chilling sense of dread as they learned that King is an Immortal Object - he is invulnerable to all attacks.

"I see you all have beaten the dragon, even though none of you are on its level or higher. It seems the strongest players have abandoned you," King commented.

"Nobody wants you here!" a female voice cried out.

King audibly smirked. "I don't care for what you have to say. Every single one of you are now my playthings. You will do whatever I want you to do."

"We're not your toys!" a medium pitched masculine voice exclaimed.

"Are you not? Really now...you don't seem to know what I am able to do," King returned. "You people very much are my toys."

Murmuring sounded across the large crowd. Once everyone became near silent, someone asked a very important question regarding all of their safety.

"What about the police? They're sure to rescue us!"

"I've made sure that won't happen," King assured. "Big Dreamers is fully under my control. Nobody can escape from their HQ, just like how none of you can escape from this game. They can't even contact anybody in the outside world, just like you! So many people are in my grasp…"

"What do you intend to do with us and Big Dreamers?" someone else asked.

"I only wish to extract my revenge on some people and the vermin that plague the very game they love to play. As for Big Dreamers, I needed them to get to where I am now," King explained.

"What are you going to do now?" another person wondered.

"That's an easy one. Watch and learn, my toys." King clapped his armoured hands (he would have clicked his fingers but the armour covered them as well) and a moment later, everybody disappeared. Even those that were not at the Gigantic Dragon battle site had been whisked away to an unknown location.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _7:31 AM - In-game Time_

All twelve thousand, five hundred and twenty six players that found themselves trapped inside Lapis Pugna Online had reappeared in different holding cells. Players could see that there was a flat area that each cell was positioned towards. More astute players could tell that the structure was made entirely of sandstone - save for the iron bars belonging to the cells. There were exactly twenty five holding cells circling the absent-roofed flat area. And King was nowhere in sight.

Luckily, the cells were not overcrowded. There was enough breathing space for everybody; including the Masayoshi Hanta, who were all in the exact same cell together.

"That was pretty crazy," Kyohan remarked, as soon as she noticed her guild members were good for casual conversation. "What do you guys think?"

"I think this is really stupid. He's doing this all for revenge? Then why involve almost everyone else that plays this game?" Naohiro questioned.

"Yeah! If this is somethin' personal, he should just keep it to those people and leave the game alone!" Jonetsu agreed, after taking in her new surroundings.

Senya paused before he started to speak. "I wholeheartedly agree. I wonder what kind of people brought King to do this...they must not have been very hospitable to him. Perhaps King has some sort of mental deficiency in real life. It is hard to guess correctly."

As the mumblings from every other player increased in volume, the members of the Masayoshi Hanta watched helplessly as some people tried to brute force their way through the bars. Despite being only iron, they too were Immortal Objects. Players couldn't even squeeze their way past them as an invisible barrier disallowed them to do so.

In particular, Senya was looking out for his best friend. Surely he was to be here. Somewhere. Perhaps not in this holding cell, but definitely in another. The only question was where.

Proceeding some long minutes, a certain tall, dark purple haired female approached the four guild members. "I somehow thought I'd be seeing you again."

"Kirai?" Senya wondered aloud. This quickly informed the rest of the Masayoshi Hanta on who this person was.

"From the Grey Knights? So you were wrapped up into this as well…" Kyohan realised. "It's convenient how you're in the same cell as us."

"Yes, that's very coincidental. How have you all been?" Kirai asked her friends.

"We've been good, just slightly freaked out at what King's been doing. Hey, is he an Ultimate Player?" Kyohan remembered, having what felt like a moment of genius.

"i have seen the faces and player information of each victim that fell under our experimentation. There was not a King. He's clearly a hacker," Kirai rejected, turning to Kyohan for a moment. "Though I do commend you on remembering that. I didn't even think about that possibility."

Senya interjected. "Have you seen an orange-haired individual anywhere here? You people were experimenting on his avatar. His name is Hitakaru."

" _So that's the friend you were talking about…_ " Kirai thought, remembering the pre-battle conversation she had with the black haired tactician. "I haven't seen him. My apologies, but he is most likely here. You should be seeing him soon, I would think."

"I see...thank you," Senya replied. He went back to looking at all the other cages.

The Masayoshi Hanta plus Kirai fell silent whilst the cries and chatter of the various players raged on. It only became deadly quiet once King appeared in the middle of the flat area. Fear had returned.

"Since I am now quite literally your god, I thought it'd be best to have some fun and alleviate this tension. What better way to do that than by watching people fight to the death!" King clapped his hands once again, teleporting an axe user and a two handed sword user from random holding cells. "You two shall be the first to fight! One important detail I should add before I leave again to watch from afar: the losing player shall be held in Purgatory forever! Purgatory is a space I created that is far away from any of the game's locations. You cannot teleport out of it and its landscape stretches out indefinitely. There is no escape from Purgatory. Have fun!"

King then disappeared once again, leaving the axe user and the two handed sword user to wonder what to do. It did not take long for the axe user to decide to initiate the fight by attempting a slash. Scared, the sword user blocked the strike but could not replicate this once more.

Everyone could tell that the axe wielder was not under some sort of rage. His facial expression was perfectly normal for the fight, so almost everyone started to hate the male for his aggressiveness under the failure circumstance that King had mentioned just earlier.

" _He must understand that if nothing is done, King may become increasingly irritated. Inside, he must believe that anyone in Purgatory can be saved later, when King gets overthrown. But if that is the case, then there is no need for that aggressive selfishness,_ " Senya understood.

Not long after, the axe person had dominated the utterly afraid two-handed user. With nary a word from the axe person and a horrifying scream from the one sent to King's Purgatory, the remaining fighter was warped away from the battlefield. Senya's attention started to drift, but it snapped back to reality once he saw who was to fight next.

Kirai, and a familiar orange-haired individual.


	20. Real Problem

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Within a square, white walled and grey carpeted room, multiple people were utilising desktop computers. Some were merely looking at their screens, while others were doing a mix of typing and clicking. Those that were typing had filled the room with the sounds of keyboard keys being pressed in quick succession.

But these workers were not pleased. They weren't passionate or determined like most artists. They were stressed and fearing for their lives. Armoured men carrying assault rifles were breathing down all of their necks, a constant reminder that any of their lives could be taken whenever.

A tall man with short yellow hair, a slightly wrinkled face and a constant frown stepped into the room. He stretched. He yawned. He looked to the five men that were guarding the room.

"Good work, fellas," the man praised. "You're doing a fine job ensuring these pathetic people do what I tell them. Keep at it. There's more to come."

"Yes, sir," one of the men answered sharply. No salute was given. But each of the men already gave their eternal respect to their boss. In no way were the men about to go against that.

"Nobody's made an attempt to escape or contact anybody from the outside?" the man asked nobody in particular.

"No, sir," another one of the men replied. There was barely any pause between the two.

"Excellent. I wouldn't want a death on my hands," the man smirked slightly. He strutted further into the room, taking a closer look at several of the workers who were all wearing casual attire. "You're all so terrible. So damn terrible!"

He broke into a maniacal laughter.

"Big Dreamers, as a company, is a damn failure. I'm willing to bet half your players don't even know who you are. They just know you as 'the developers of Lapis Pugna Online'. Nobody knows your names. You're all worthless. Isn't that the reason why you haven't been mentioned up until a couple chapters ago?" taunted the man. Somehow, he had broken the fourth wall. A minor offence.

Each of the workers were unnerved, but they needn't let this make them falter. Otherwise the man would have a reason to shout at them again. And his shouts were the equivalent to one's ears as an erupting volcano would be to one's life.

The man relented his verbal assault, leaning back to his regularly tall posture. He began wandering around the room, almost as if he was joining in on the patrol. He sniggered.

"What's the status of the Purgatournament?" the man asked. One of the men internally screamed, for he hated that name.

"Solitude, the axe user and Alto, the two-handed sword user, have begun their battle," a certain brown haired man responded. The man looked over to the one who had just spoke and smiled, showing his surprisingly white teeth.

"Thank you, Konpyu Odayakana," the man thanked.

He walked over, slowly, to the brown haired individual.

"Or should I say, the CEO of Big Dreamers and the project lead behind Lapis Pugna Online?"

Konpyu turned around in his spinning chair. "Yes, you should say that, Yokunai Juusan."

"Glad you remember my name," the man observed, his name now revealed. "Thought I was gonna have to remind you. How are things? Are you hungry at all? Thirsty?"

"Things are fine. At least, as fine as they can be right now. They would be just peachy if you could tell me why you're doing this," Konpyu pried.

Yokunai became enraged. With a fire burning inside his mind, his hand clenched and flew across Konpyu's face. It stung. But it wasn't enough to deter the chief executive officer. Not one bit.

"Don't ask me that ever again. Get back to work," Yokunai demanded, having calmed down somewhat. With no other choice, Konpyu did as he was told. The short-fused male snapped his fingers, causing one of the men from the hallway to enter.

"Yes, sir?" the man that had been called meekly asked.

"Order me some pizza. When it arrives, take it in. Be sure to get money from one of these freaks," Yokunai instructed. "Don't forget about the extra anchovies."

"Right, sir. Understood!" the afraid man nodded, leaving the room to go do as he was told.

The yellow-haired dictator returned his gaze to the room. He wiped the angered expression from his mouth and replaced it with a creepy grin. Anger lingered in his eyes. Even as time passed, Yokunai kept this expression up. He wasn't thinking deeply. There wasn't anything to think about. It was all crystal clear to him.

One of the developers grabbed his attention by merely saying his formal title of 'sir'.

"What is it?" Yokunai ordered.

"The fight between Solitude and Alto has ended. Solitude was the victor. Should I use the random select tool again?" the developer informed.

Yokunai paused temporarily. He folded his arms. "Have Kirai fight Hitakaru. Even their levels a little, as usual."

"Why them?" the same developer wondered. Yokunai wasn't happy with this.

"Don't ever ask me that. Just do as you're told."

"Yes, sir!" The developer whimpered before getting back to work.

Silence returned. For the most part, at least, if one were to forget about all the typing. Yokunai had regained his totally intimidating face, reigniting the fear he seeped into everyone else's hearts. In his mind, he began to think to himself.

" _Masayoshi Hanta...I will extract my revenge on you. I will make you and your fellow players suffer. For what you did, you miserable guild, I will repay in full. Say goodbye to your freedom._ "

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _7:44 AM - In-game Time_

Back in the virtual reality video game, Hitakaru was scared out of his mind. A robed female that was one and a half times taller than him was to be his opponent in King's twisted tournament. She was almost attractive. However, all of the other emotions that were coursing through his brain proved to be too much. It almost seemed as if he was to fall unconscious.

Just then, Hitakaru caught a glimpse of his best friend, Senya. The mere sight of the black-haired tactician of the Masayoshi Hanta was enough to steel the once horrified teen. Senya had returned Hitakaru's desperate gaze.

" _Hitakaru...you must win,_ " was all Senya had to say to himself.

Kirai stared in the same direction as Hitakaru. She knew what was happening. She accepted the wish.

"Alright, I dunno who you are, lady, but I'm gonna beat the crap outta you!" Hitakaru yelled with a strong essence of hot-blood flowing through his being. He brandished his Hardened Coal Sword (one tier above a Steel Sword) and made his Steel Armour shine brilliantly thanks to the sunlight. Like a positive virus, Senya appeared to catch some of Hitakaru's confidence.

The fight began with the orange-haired male striking the purple-haired female with a slightly slow yet powerful sword slash. More quickly followed. It soon became apparent that Kirai was not doing anything. But Hitakaru did not care. He kept attacking the offensive-less girl, unrelentingly so, all until her health dropped to zero.

As it was happening, Kirai kept a smile on her face the entire time. Hitakaru shared a smile with Senya, whom on the inside, was respecting his fallen friend's decision. The rest of the Masayoshi Hanta shared this respect. It seemed like everyone could rest due to Hitakaru and Kirai being replaced with two people barely anybody else cared about.

Yokunai Juusan, rather, King - he knew there was never a time for rest.


	21. Imminent Pressure

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Between the two unfamiliar players was a flat beige surface full of misfired arrows and marks where spells failed to meet their target. The fight seemed to have no end despite the amount of damage that was being dealt out. Luckily, those in the holding cells were safe. Plentiful dodging. Lots of projectiles. Clear pains on each combatant.

Eventually, it ended. With a pained scream from the mage. One that matched an evanescent glow. The mage disappeared, leaving the archer as confused as a man with no directive. Powerful emotions surged through his brain at the same time, almost shattering the instabilities of his mind. He was warped back into the cage he was once in.

They all expected another fight to occur. Instead of this, the imposing King returned to converse with his virtual yet literal subjects.

"Hello once again, players," King greeted. Some were terrified, some refused to look at him, others glared at the golden armoured 'player' with a steely determination. "I know you're all afraid. Deep down inside of you, even in the most confident of people, lies fear. I must be awakening that within you. After all, this is a life or death situation. For you guys anyway."

"What do you want this time? We're playing your sick game like you asked us to! What more could you want?" a seemingly confident blue haired female avatar questioned.

"I don't want much else. I'm only here to fill you in on something. No, not more fear. Well, maybe for a certain selection of you…"

Nobody dared to mumble. King pointed directly at the cage containing Kyohan, Senya, Jonetsu and Naohiro - the Masayoshi Hanta members. Everyone's eyes followed.

"I hate you people. All four of you," King bellowed.

The members frowned. "Why's that?" the leader, Kyohan, asked.

"Because you did an injustice to me. You refused to be nice. Those who are bad should receive punishment. That's how the law works, right?" King rhetorically responded.

"What do you mean?" the silver-haired archer, Naohiro, demanded to know.

King could be heard chuckling somewhat. "Of course you wouldn't recognise me under this heavy armour. That was the purpose behind it, you know. How about I tell you my real name? Perhaps that will jog your horrendous memories?"

"Oh man, I'm dyin' to know!" the red-haired mage, Jonetsu, sarcastically replied.

"Don't be like that with me. Have you forgotten who brought you into this situation in the first place? I'd suggest to never take that sort of tone ever again. At least not to me. Either way, my name is Yokunai Juusan. Remember me now...Kyohan, my dear?"

Upon hearing that name, Kyohan's eyes widened in a terror she had not experienced for many a while. She collapsed to the floor, only kept up by her knees. The girl was sweating all over. Her body felt like it had been run through a sea of germs. Kyohan could not be brought back to her feet. Her comrades could not assist. To them, they were terrified, but not to this extent. Senya was spared from these emotions.

"Who is this?" the black-haired glass cannon, Senya, wondered.

"That's the same person who...did the thing to Kyohan. Our ex-member," Naohiro whispered, ensuring to not let anyone else hear.

"You mean…" Senya started to realise. Even his face changed slightly to match the surprise. He turned back to face King, who was still pointing at their cage. "...This is Yoku?"

Jonetsu was on the ground, trying to tend to her best friend. "That's him," Naohiro confirmed.

"I see." Senya kept his blank expression, but one could clearly see anger in his eyes. "Yokunai Juusan. Indeed, you are a despicable person."

"Thank you! I have waited to hear such a wonderful comment!" King hypocritically replied. "To return the favour, I hate you especially! No really. I hate you so much."

"Is that because I replaced you?" assumed Senya.

"Yes. I was the one person in that guild that the others could depend on, as a good friend...Kyohan was within my grasp. But then she ruined everything by telling her friends. I kept trying to get that position back, but you were the one that sealed my chances. You started to become the dependable one, leading everyone in battles. That was what I was doing! And you don't even do a good job of it!"

"How do you know this?" Senya continued to ask, unfazed.

"Logs. Big Dreamers keeps logs of everything ever spoken or typed within the game. Even if you think you're safe, the developers have access to what you're saying. They also have logs for certain actions, such as opening doors or the destruction of an entire guild. I was able to use these to learn exactly what you've been doing up until now. And I must say...you're quite the dumb one, Senya."

Senya kept silent.

"Your strategies are obvious to those that pay attention. Any educated monkey could come up with them. You haven't shown anything noteworthy. Charging into the Grey Knights, sneaking into their base beforehand, using potions to help with that last one and more recently, telling everyone to defeat the Gigantic Dragon in essentially the same way they were doing before. You're not really inventive. Or any good."

"I have not been presented with a challenge that requires an overly complex solution," defended Senya.

"Not until today, huh?" the avatar of Yokunai Juusan returned, grinning within his armour. "Despite that, you're seen as a good person that will do nothing bad. Somebody that everyone can trust. The same way I was seen before everyone started hating on me for being a PKer. And Kyohan...no, I will not talk badly about her. I can forgive sudden bursts of rage if it's in someway justified. Finding out the truth can be very shocking. You know, because I hate you so much, I'll do this."

It seemed as if he did nothing. However, Senya found himself on the arena, where two one-handed sword users quickly appeared in the same fashion.

"If anybody defeats Senya, the tactician of the Masayoshi Hanta, then they'll be given permanent immunity from the fight selection! One person of their choice will also be brought back from the Purgatory. Now, fight!" King waved his arm downwards, signalling the start of the match. He soon disappeared from the virtual reality world.

Hesitant, the pair of sword-wielders (they did not know each other) charged ahead recklessly, weapons drawn with the intent to succeed. Senya easily dodged this two pronged attack and equipped his own steel sword and steel shield, waiting for the other victims to make their next move.

They merely repeated their previous action. Senya took advantage of this by stepping to the side and slashing the male on his left, knocking him down in the process. The female turned around, saw what happened and tried a jump slash, but Senya was able to block with his shield. He pushed, causing his feminine opponent to be sent flying backwards, though she was able to land on her two feet. Senya fired a Beam Outburst, combining the technique with Quick Cutter to have the former move strike his foe with a speed she could not react to.

She was knocked down as well, but the pair of them did not have their respective health bars. They shared one glance, communicating the same defeated thought to one another through eye contact. As the fight had the same properties as a duel, they were able to press the 'Surrender' button on their menus. That is what they did next.

Masayoshi Hanta's tactician watched as his opponents gave up. He wasn't able to find out why, but he had some ideas.

" _Did they do that because they are aware of my battle prowess? We did become somewhat popular after our Grey Knights attack, so that is a possibility. Or perhaps, they were lazy? No matter the answer, I am somewhat appalled by their actions. I suppose they may have wanted a quick escape, but they chose not to fight for potential escape...King is erasing the hopes of the players. Everyone else may follow suit. That must not happen,_ " Senya thought as he waited for whatever else this infernal system would throw at him.

What came next had erased most of Senya's hope. An orange-haired, one handed sword user...by the username of Hitakaru.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _7:55 AM - In-game Time_

Before the fight had happened, Jonetsu directed Kyohan to the far corner of the cage. The sides of the holding cells were made of an unbreakable glass, meaning Kyohan could easily lean against it and the back sandstone wall. She wept to herself, with Jonetsu nearby to keep her company. She was also there to inform the green-haired girl of what was happening on the arena.

At one point, when Jonetsu was paying attention to the fight, something interrupted Kyohan's sadness. Her tears had stopped a minute earlier, but her sadness was ever present. She was conscious enough to notice that her menu opened by itself, displaying the notification of an important private message from an unknown sender.

" _Who…_ " Kyohan thought as she opened up the message. The sender's name was not displayed at the top, like it should. Instead, there was only the contents. " _Hello. My name is Konpyu, the creator of LPO._ " She read to herself.

" _I'm here to help you out. I can't be here for long, else I will be spotted. Please respond._ "

A second line of text appeared underneath the previous one moments after she finished reading.

" _This is a live feed. I disguised it as an important PM so it would get your attention. Please respond._ "

Kyohan kept staring at the coming messages.

" _I need you to help me save us and all of you._ "

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_ **Sorry for not posting anything in March. A lot of schoolwork has been coming in and I've barely had any time to myself. Any time that I have had to myself was spent gaming, a bigger hobby of mine, as you can likely tell. I am on a break right now though, so hopefully I can bung more out. See you next time.**


	22. The Plan Arrives

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Senya had already succeeded against two players. People he did not know. He merely dodged twice. With just a single sword slash and a combination of his Quick Cutter and Beam Outburst techniques, he had pressured his foes into surrendering the duel. Everyone knew that failure had the consequence of leading them to some realm in the game where they could not escape. Yet, the two that were against Senya gave up their chances for freedom after some minor attacks.

Perhaps it would have been considerate for them to not surrender. Senya's new opponent is his best friend from the real world, Hitakaru. Someone the lonesome tactician would never have wanted to fight under any circumstance. Yet, here they are, doing exactly that, for reasons beyond their control.

Some of the other players were shocked at the thunderbolt that struck the ground before them. They knew about the Masayoshi Hanta and heard rumours of their tactician fighting for his friend...now the very same friend is being forced to fight the tactician. Jonetsu and Naohiro were especially hit by the bombshell, for they knew Senya's inner pain well.

"Senya?! It can't be!" Hitakaru responded after being warped into the area. "Is it really you, Senya?!"

"I so wish you could be taken away from this place, Hitakaru...I do not want to 'take care' of this…" Senya spoke with a deep tone, almost as if he were to collapse completely. He dropped his steel armaments in his metallic hesitation.

"Damn it!" Hitakaru growled in anger. "Why the hell did King set this up? It doesn't make any sense!"

"He is a problematic devil...he relishes in the suffering of others, especially those that have done him wrong," Senya guessed. Despite his state, his calculating mind was functional. "I am one of those people. I replaced him. Therefore, I am the one that should receive the most punishment."

"Well, he's certainly doled out a lotta that!" Hitakaru agreed. He slashed the air in front of him, once, to vent his vexation. "Looks like there's no way around it. We're gonna have to fight."

"But…"

Hitakaru pointed his blade at Senya's depressed face, which had been facing his friend ever since the idea of fighting was supported by him. "No ifs, ands, or buts about it. We may as well fight. It'll give everyone more time to think of a way outta here. Besides, trading blows is how martial artists get to know each other. Although we do know each other already, it'll be a good test of our characters. So come on, pick up that sword and that shield and fight me!" Hitakaru drew back his blade.

Internally struggling, Senya wondered if he should follow on his friend's words. His moral blocks tried to fend off any urges to start battling, but those words rang in his mind.

" _Fight me…_ " Senya thought. He reached down, grabbed his sword and shield, then stood up. "Fine. If that is what you wish, I shall engage you in combat. Let us fight...Hitakaru."

"That's more like it!" the orange-haired one grinned. He readied himself for what should be an excellent fight.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _7:58 AM - In-game Time_

Meanwhile, Kyohan was still in the corner of her holding cell, her talk with Konpyu continuing from moments before Hitakaru was teleported into the arena. Her tears were drying up, leaving red stains on her cheeks. Her sadness was being filled with confusion. Specifically, at what Konpyu was typing.

" _I need you to help me save us and all of you._ "

That confused her the most. Nevertheless, she let it not repel her.

" _What is going on?_ " Kyohan finally replied.

" _Good. I haven't scared you off. Now, I'm sure you're aware of Yokunai's Infiltration, as he calls it. The incident that's led every player in the game to those holding cells._ "

" _Yeah...what about it?_ "

No response for a few seconds.

" _Sorry,_ " Konpyu apologised through the emotionless text. " _A guard was passing by me. I have to be very careful here. Though they're just henchmen, not very smart ones it appears._ "

" _If they're dumb, why don't you just fight back?_ " Kyohan questioned.

" _No dice. There's eight armed guards with assault rifles versus thirty two unfit, lardy nerds. Well, we're not fat, but we're not exactly gym regulars if you get what I mean._ "

Kyohan managed a smile. " _I get it. So, why me?_ "

" _Ah, right...I decided to message you because Yokunai likes to talk. He's blurted out pieces of his past with your guild and you, I merely put those pieces together and figured you were the best person for my plan. If you're up to it._ "

" _Plan?_ " Kyohan started to worry at what this could entail.

" _Yokunai leaves the admin computer on when he goes into the AmuSphere, so I could easily get onto it and revoke his account's permissions. However, he's somewhat sporadic in how he handles everything. He goes back and forth a lot. It's very possible that he could see me trying to undo his work. That would spell doom for me. I'll need you to distract him. Considering your history with him, I figured you'd be the best candidate for this. Again, only if you're up to it. I could try and get someone else to do it if you don't want to. But, I feel it'd take more convincing on their part to get Yokunai distracted. It's your choice._ "

The long, green haired guild leader was about to ask how she could distract Yokunai, but quickly remembered what he wanted from her. She started to tear up again at the mere thought of it. It only got worse when she realised what Konpyu was suggesting her to do.

" _Are you okay?_ " Konpyu wondered, after two minutes of silence from the girl. " _Look, I know this might be hard for you, but this is the only way I know can keep Yokunai distracted for long enough. It's for the sake of your friends. No, not just them, but us, your families, our families and all those twelve thousand players. Your guild literally hunts for justice. Is this really one circumstance where your justice will falter? You need to do this. For everyone. For the Masayoshi Hanta._ "

Kyohan was reading this, her tears continuing to slide down her face. Encouraged, she wiped away her flowing waterworks and sniffled many a time. She kept wiping her eyes until the tears stopped coming, where she then fought the hardest mental battle she had ever fought before. Her mind was splitting into opposing sides as she typed away at her virtual keyboard. Determination and sadness were at war with one another.

Determination became the winner.

" _I'll do it._ "

" _Good. I'm glad you were able to make it through. I just need you to keep him distracted until I give you another important PM. After this message, I'll terminate this log and wait until he's gone back into the game. Thank you, Kyohan. I believe in you._ "

Before Kyohan could respond, the private message window closed completely. Her inbox was empty, just as it was prior to receiving Konpyu's initial message. She stayed where she was, figuring out exactly what she was going to do once King returned. Her future actions would mean everything. Everything to every trapped player. Kyohan waited patiently for a chance at freedom.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _8:07 AM - In-game Time_

Senya and Hitakaru's fight was proceeding, with sword slashes and shield blocks aplenty. It seemed like a natural battle to ones not in the know. Those that paid attention and/or know of Senya's fighting style would be able to see that he was not fighting in his usual way. Hitakaru especially was beginning to notice this.

"Hey, Senya! What's the matter? I thought I told YOU to fight me! Not some average joe!" Hitakaru reminded, able to get some distance away from his best friend. "Heck, I'm not sure if I'd count this as a fight. It's more like a ballet, but with swords. And a shield. You haven't even used any of your techniques or buffs! I know you've got those hidden up your sleeve! Why don't you roll those sleeves up and show me what you're made of?"

"I…" Senya stuttered. He dropped his sword and opened up his menu, ready to hit the 'Surrender' button.

Hitakaru sensed this and immediately dashed over, punching his friend in the face with enough force to send him tumbling into the ground. This dazed him momentarily, but his menu was still open. Senya was now hesitant.

"Can't let ya do that, buddy. You can't run away from your problems. If you do that, they'll still be there. That's why it's way better just to get it over and done with ASAP. That's why you gotta pick up your damn sword and FIGHT ME!" Hitakaru motivated, pointing a lone index finger to the sky.

As was the intention, Senya took these words to heart. Hitakaru wasn't the most elegant of speakers, but he could be very inspiring when he needed to. What he just said is a great example of this. Senya knew. He quickly remembered all the things his friend did for him, adding now to the mental photo album of moments. Senya stood, picking up his blade along the way. His previous frown was replaced with a friendly grin. The orange-haired one couldn't help but share the emotion.

"Your words have touched me, Hitakaru...just like how my steel sword will do the same," Senya spoke, before using Quick Cutter to strike his opponent across his armour's chestpiece.

The tactician used Quick Cutter four more times and leapt backwards, using a Technique Potion to restore the titular metre to its fullest. As Hitakaru dashed forwards, Senya used a Pierce buff combined with multiple Quick Cutters to ignore his foe's defence, thereby increasing the amount of damage dealt. He then used a new technique, Forceful Shove, to send Hitakaru some length away. Senya made use of multiple Beam Outbursts merged with Quick Cutter to hit his friend multiple times over whilst the Pierce buff was still active.

Nothing could be done about this. Hitakaru grinned, he was finally getting a fight. A dangerous one too; considering his health had been dropped to a mere quarter of what it was before the battle. He hadn't been hit prior to Senya's 'awakening', so this was all the more impressive. But there wasn't much time to think. Senya was recklessly dashing ahead. Hitakaru expected to have a clash, but Senya activated Illusionary Rush at the last moment to go for a basic attack on the opposing player's back. More followed in quick succession, Quick Cutter seemingly not needed.

All this intense onslaught brought the helpless Hitakaru's health down to low single digits. He knew there was no way out of this. One more attack was all he needed to lose. Senya drew in close for the final strike...yet it never came. Confused, Hitakaru watched as Senya drew back his blade and turn to the sky.

"Yokunai Juusan! I know you are observing this. I know you can hear me!" Senya called out. "How dare you make us do this? How dare you make us fight! I refuse to take part in this ridiculous event any further! I will even challenge you if it means the end of this! Show yourself, you brute!"

Before long, the familiar golden armoured player returned to the virtual world.

"You…" Senya growled. As he was about to repeat himself, he and everyone else was surprised to hear someone do exactly that.

"YOU!" yelled a familiar voice.

Senya and most other players looked over to see the source of the voice...it was Kyohan, with a determined yet pained facial expression.


	23. Sudden Determination

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

There she was. Kyohan, standing with a determined facial expression, staring Yokunai down. She knew what she was about to do. Nobody else knew. Naohiro and Jonetsu cringed at the thought of what was going to happen. Senya merely observed with great confusion. He could tell doing this took an unlimited amount of courage from the green-haired girl.

Yokunai, in his avatar of King, was interested.

"I see you've finally realised my greatness, Kyohan," King grinned underneath his menacing golden armour. "What exactly do you want?"

"Come over here, Yoku. I wanna talk to you," the leader of the Masayoshi demanded.

"Sure. I'll listen," King agreed. He hovered over to the front of the cage where Kyohan resided. "I'm here, my sweet."

Kyohan braced herself. As did everybody else. "First of all, please get Senya out of there. He's had enough."

Without any hesitancy, King did as he was requested, shocking almost every other player. Senya was back in the cell. The arena was now empty, making it somewhat eerie now that the battles had been paused.

"Now…" A pause. "...I want to be with you. Alone."

"You mean…?" King asked, his hopes raising.

Kyohan nodded. Senya immediately understood what was being suggested, but remained at his newfound sitting position next to Naohiro.

"Perfect. Just what I've been wanting these past few months! Yes! I'll take you to the finest place in this entire game, my dear Kyohan!" King exclaimed. His composed side was breaking down.

"Yes. Let's be together...w-we can finish what we started…" Kyohan stuttered slightly, a part of her DESPERATELY not wanting to go through with this asinine plan. The rest of her persisted. Jonetsu was close to vomiting.

King held out his hand. Like a flicker of light, Kyohan and King disappeared from the locale. Senya and the others were understandably confused as to what just happened.

"The hell was that?! What does she think she's doing, going alone like that?!" Naohiro sounded his concerns.

"It is peculiar...though I believe there is a method to her madness. As hard as it may be to believe due to its absurdity," Senya responded, having received his bearings after his bout with Hitakaru.

"Yeah…" Jonetsu agreed, wiping her mouth. Although the game did not allow for retching, the feeling of doing so was ever so present. "I know Kyohan better than both you guys. We've been together since the game's launch...did I tell you guys that already? Anyway, I know her best and I fully know that she wouldn't do somethin' dumb like this without some sorta good logic."

"If you two say so," Naohiro sighed. "I'm just worried. I don't want a repeat of last time."

"Neither do I, buddy-o pal. Neither do I," Jonetsu ended. They fell silent, hoping that whatever their leader had in mind would prove to work. That is, if she did have a plan. However, something confused Senya most of all. Something that created a strong aura of oddity in his brain.

" _She could not have done this on her own. Thusly, who planned this?_ "

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _10:09 AM - Real World Time_

Within the limitations of the real world, Konpyu Odayakana grabbed the ovicular device attached to his computer system and utilised it to close a window that was present on screen. He wanted to lean back, but the pressing fear of gunfire told him to do otherwise. There were no guards around him. He was able to carry out his plan.

But he needed to be fast. Konpyu scrolled through a series of folders on his computer, searching for a particular one. 'PlayerLocale'.

" _Perhaps it would've been a better idea to have it open before messaging Kyohan...why must I be cursed with this irritating stupidity?_ " The project lead behind Lapis Pugna Online realised, deciding to target a weak trait of his.

Konpyu double left clicked on 'PlayerLocale' and scrolled all the way down to a folder named after the very same player everyone's hopes rested on - "Kyohan". He opened it and did the same with the exactly named text file. There were some values, but the most important one was the "CurrentLocale" value. Right next to it was " = OpesBed11". Below that value was "PreviousLocale = YokuRing". Konpyu's mind breathed a sigh of relief.

" _She's distracted him...now I can finally go ahead can reclaim my game! Having to endure all of Yokunai's brutish punches and screams...it has finally led to this. But I'll need to be careful…_ " He schemed.

The leader tapped his chest three times consecutively. A familiar unusual sound emerged from the tap, instigating an abundance of similarly sounds from the other developers in the room. All the guards were confused, but the mass tapping was ignored.

Seeing that the main computer was free, Konpyu near-silently stepped over to it. Most of the guards were either at the back end of the room or around the distant door leading to Konpyu's AmuSphere station. Just looking there made Konpyu seethe a little. Batting away the anger, the somewhat messy haired man made his place back at his rightful computer and began using it like mad, though in an orderly fashion.

He discovered that the password required to log-in hadn't changed - presumably Yokunai didn't know how. Konpyu typed in "loyalties" and got access to the system. He made sure to not close anything Yokunai had open, merely out of a thought that his plan might not work. As Konpyu opened up a new explorer window, one of the guards approached him.

"What are you doing? Did the boss allow this?" the guard interrogated.

" _I didn't think I'd get caught so early...I'll have to snake my way out of this_ ," Konpyu continued to scheme. "Yes, he did. As I am the lead behind this game, Yokunai gave me special permission to use the central computer whenever he makes use of my - er, THE AmuSphere. So I suggest you leave me be, or else you'll piss off your boss."

"I don't know about this...I'll go ask the boss' right hand man. You stay right there and don't touch anything," the guard ordered, walking towards the door adjacent to the room exit one.

Konpyu was kicking himself. " _Damn! Damn it all to damn! Oh my freakin' god! I've gotta do this lightning fast, or else I'll end up dead with nothing to show for it! I've gotta hurry...I've gotta save my game!_ "

From now on, Konpyu was focused solely on locating the correct folder and the correct file within that folder. His fearful mental state proved to be a slight distraction, as he forgot the exact name of the folder and had to look in random ones to see if they were what he needed. It was a race against time.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _8:09 AM - Real World Time_

Yokunai Juusan's in-game avatar of 'King' had used his administrator permissions to warp himself and Kyohan to a seemingly random bedroom within one of Lapis Pugna's towns. It was a large, seemingly wealthy room with huge windows and incredibly detailed shelves and desks. Kyohan was impressed.

"I wasn't expecting...uh, to be taken here," Kyohan stuttered slightly. Despite making a pact with herself, she wasn't fully ready to go ahead with the plan.

"It's really nice, isn't it?" King responded. He removed his armour; this revealed the short, yellow haired man with a constant frown on his slightly wrinkly face. This did make him mostly naked, save for the army shorts he was wearing to cover his underwear. "Of course, that's not the only nice thing in the room. Heh."

Kyohan was blushing. But not because she was overwhelmed by his beauty, but because she was embarrassed. "Uh...yeah." She nodded.

"Y'know, I gotta say. I wasn't really expecting you to come over like that," Yokunai disclosed. Kyohan was only now noticing how tall he was - about one and a half times taller than her. He was surprisingly well built. "I thought I'd have a bit more of a challenge."

"Sometimes...the best solution to a problem is usually the easiest one. Or so I've heard," Kyohan replied. She was starting to remember something she once listened to. "And I'll be honest...loving you is hard. My days were simple, when I didn't know you were a player killer. Naohiro, Jonetsu, you and I...we were a great guild. We did quests together, we defeated Wanted players and took their bounties. Nobody tried to do things to me then. Then your truth showed up. You...sexual lunatic. It was hard getting over what you did. So you know what? You win."

"I win?" Yokunai raised an eyebrow. Not necessarily in confusion.

"Yes, you win. I'm yours…" She noticed he was starting to get excited. "...we must talk, first. It's been so long since we've had the chance to talk like this...it's better we catch up first."

"Alright. I guess," Yokunai agreed. "So where do we start? Right after you threw me in the trash like some sorta banana skin?"

"I…"

"Sorry about that. Didn't mean to sound so aggressive with that one, sorry my dear. I guess I was releasing some pent up anger of mine. Anyway, let's begin with your talk."

Kyohan nodded. Inwardly, she believed Konpyu was executing his side of the plan. She did not care for how exactly he did it, as long as he had a clear cut way of doing it. All she needed to do was to stall him. What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_ **You know how Sword Art Online's arcs end on the penultimate episode, with an epilogue that shows the states of the characters after the arc's story's official conclusion?**


	24. The World Reborn

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

Yokunai remained sitting on the bed, almost entirely naked as he was. Kyohan had pushed through the initial awkwardness of the situation, but the fear of what could happen lingered in her mind. At least she had managed to stall for some time.

"So, let's begin with your talk," the yellow haired, well-built infiltrator insisted. "How have you been, my dear Kyohan?"

Gulping, the green-haired leader of the Masayoshi Hanta responded. "Good. Though considering you've been reading the logs, I can imagine you know how I've been."

"Of course. You and your guild kept doing your thing, you recruited that despicable Senya, then you eventually took down the Grey Knights by killing their leader. I gotta admit, having the brains to not attack the guild as a whole, Senya's a little smarter than I give him credit for," Yokunai commented.

"He's lead us through many fights. Battles against monsters with difficult attack cycles and the like. Senya has always kept his cool in the heat of battle. Recruiting him was the best decision I've ever made," Kyohan exaggerated. "You're just jealous that he replaced you."

"I sure am. Still don't see why I couldn't have stayed," Yokunai half-joked, in a light tone.

"You were a player killer! You literally went against the ideals of our guild! Not only that, you _toyed_ with me...used me like some sort of doll!"

"Hey, I thought I won. Why are you getting angry with me?" Yokunai became slightly suspicious, but only for a moment. "Venting, are ya?"

"Y-yes, I'm venting...releasing the anger I had when you used me the way you did. Uh, can I ask how you managed to gain control of Big Dreamers?" Kyohan asked.

Yokunai grinned. "Easy. I stole some money, bribed a dude to get me some guns and riot equipment, gave those guns to some killers and mercenaries I found, then I attacked the HQ and forced them to give me total control of the company. That included this game. Konpyu Odayakana was happy to accept."

"As happy as someone can be while multiple guns are pointed at himself and his workers?" Kyohan sarcastically asked.

"Heh. Suppose that might'a been a little overboard, but I needed to be safe. I ensured I had everybody who was working there in one room. Couldn't have anyone escaping or calling the police, now," Yokunai truthfully replied. "But there's not a damn thing that can be done. They can't fight back, the police don't know and you players are stuck here. You know the AmuSphere 2.0 can't be turned off when it's in use. Gotta thank Akihiko Kayaba for the 'no log-out' idea. Real inspiration."

"That guy was a madman. Trapping all those players in a game with the prospect of death?"

"Inspiration." Yokunai laughed somewhat. "I think we're done for now. Why don't you take all that armour off?"

Kyohan froze, in her mind. She wondered if she could stall for a bit longer. "A-are you sure? Don't you...want to continue talking?"

"I've been waiting far too long, dear. Months I've been waiting...for THIS? Idle chit-chat? Nuh-uh. Not happening for much longer. I was lenient with you 'cause you're you, but I'm talking no more. Let our actions speak for themselves," Yokunai heavily refused.

Her throat started to close up. At least, it felt like it.

"What are you waiting for? Let's do it."

Kyohan gulped, realising she did all she could for now. Most of her hopes were now on Konpyu's ability to change things for the better. The rest of her hopes were focused on not engaging in close contact with this man.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _10:10 AM - Real World Time_

Meanwhile, Konpyu continued to search through the many folders belonging to the Lapis Pugna game. He had the mind enough to know looking through _every_ single folder was a bad idea and so the messy-haired man only looked through the ones that seemed promising. This still took a long amount of time. Longer than it seemed, from Konpyu's perspective.

" _PlayerLocal...PlayerWorld...PlayerAxis...nope…_ " the CEO of Big Dreamers carefully looked at the names of each folder he dived into, repeating them in his mind. " _None of them are what I want...damn it, where's that folder?!_ "

It would only be a matter of time until he located the correct one. A race against the hired mercenary who marched off to inform Yokunai's right hand man of Konpyu's possible interloping. His own battle.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _8:15 AM - In-game Time_

Kyohan was trying her best to get away from Yokunai's perverted grasp. She kept using stalling tactics, but all of them were either shut down immediately or only worked for a very short amount of time. All the while, Senya, Jonetsu and Naohiro could only hope their leader was safe. A battle against the force of tainted love.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _10:16 AM - Real World Time_

Yokunai's assistant, a scrawny well-equipped man, had been alerted of Konpyu's so called 'wrongdoings'. He was rushing down the narrow hall - from next to the AmuSphere Yokunai was using - to the room where all of the Big Dreamers developers were being held hostage. As he got to the door, one quick turn was all he needed to get inside.

Normally. Luckily for Konpyu, a female worker of his had leaped from her place and dashed over to the door before Yokunai's assistant could get there. This did result in two guards approaching the worker with guns at the ready. She stared at the two guards with a determination covering her immense fear. However, she daren't show this weakness, especially in front of Konpyu.

" _Isamu? What is she doing? What is she doing?!_ " He repeated in an increasing concern. "Get out of there!"

"I can't," Isamu, the brave woman, shook her head. "I can't let everything you worked for be taken by these brutes. You need to keep moving, Konpyu…" She blushed.

" _Wait, does she...does she feel that way about me? I had no idea...I wonder if that's why everyone's been acting funny when talking about me and her. If that's the case, I'm a really terrible person. How the heck haven't I been able to notice this before?_ " the CEO realised.

Just as Isamu believed she was going to die, the two guards fell to the ground following a pair of gunshot noises.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _8:16 AM - In-game Time_

With Kyohan and Yokunai, proceedings had developed to the point where the latter was chasing the former around the room. He thought it was some kind of pre-intercourse game, but it was just another means of stalling for time. To her credit, it was working.

But not for much longer.

"Alright, you wanna know something?" Yokunai barked, pausing. Kyohan stopped too, remaining cautious all the while. Once he knew he had her attention, the brutish infiltrator continued. "Remember the Vicus Massacre? How about that special, one hit axe?"

"What are you getting at?" Kyohan demanded.

"That was all me. I had infiltrated the HQ a couple days before the house update went live. It wasn't gonna be ready for another month, but I forced it out early. That's what led to the massacre," Yokunai explained with an animalistic grin on his face. "The axe was something I came up with. Didn't take long to complete it 'cause there was an unused axe graphic laying around the game's files. They just used that and gave it its overpowered status."

"Both of them...they were caused by you? Why?" Kyohan asked.

Yokunai smirked. "I wanted everyone to theorise somethin' was wrong with Big Dreamers. Like a warning or something. I also wanted to see the results, thought everybody's reaction would be funny. It sure was."

"You could have broken the community!"

"So? What does that matter? And why the hell do you care?"

Kyohan paused for just a moment. "Because I care about the game! It's my escape from the stress of school. I go through many hours of it a day every week! It gets a little too much for me sometimes and this place where I go to cool myself down. If something were to happen to it...something that would essentially break the lively community, the backbone of the game itself...the game would be no more. People would leave, causing the game to be an empty shell. And I can't have that."

"Are you kidding?" Yokunai was laughing at her. "You don't need a video game to get you away from reality. That's what I'm here for."

She cringed upon hearing this. The 'game' continued, with Kyohan once again running for her life.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _10:17 AM - Real World Time_

Isamu had been saved. The two guards that were going to kill her had been shot in the head, circumventing their body armour. Konpyu and Isamu looked over, finding that a well-built male developer and a normal sized female were the saviours. Two other guards were on the floor, assumedly either unconscious or dead.

"Hey! Konpyu! Get on with it! We'll hold down the fort over here!" the male one shouted over. He and the female protector were hiding behind an overturned desk, using it as cover to protect themselves from the three mercenaries that were shooting at them. All of the other developers were hiding under the wide desk that went over the walls, the ones that held the computers up.

"T-thanks, you guys! You're getting a raise once this is all over and done with!" Konpyu thanked his workers. Good for him, the remaining mercenaries were focusing on the two saviours, meaning he was safe. Isamu was at the door, ensuring Yokunai's assistant and the other guard could not get in. He now had all the time he needed.

As the heavy sounding gunfire bellowed through the room, Konpyu got back to work. It took a few empty shell drops and screams from the other developers later for him to locate the desired folder. "PlayerPermissions" and the file " ."

Double left clicking on that opened a new window with list of roles in a box to the left. "RegPlayer" was the basic one given to all players, "Mod" was the one designated to all Moderators, "Wanted" was the one forced upon Wanted players...the last role was "Admin", a role given to only the Administrator. Only one player currently held it: "King".

This name was displayed in a rectangular white box slightly to the right of the roles box. An explanation of what permissions the role had was in a much larger white box below the name.

" _I've found it!_ " Konpyu exclaimed within his thoughts. " _Now all I need to do is…_ "

Just as he was going to end it, the door had been broken through with a hammer and gunfire, forcing Isamu out of the way. Yokunai's assistant pointed a pistol at Konpyu.

"Stop this right now!" the scrawny man demanded. "Put your hands in the air, Konpyu! Turn around slowly!"

The pointer was right over the "Change role holder…" option. Konpyu needed to only click that and choose anybody else. The two saviours could not do anything as they were preoccupied with their battle, with which they managed to take out one of the mercenaries. But their victory was slimming.

" _No, this can't be the end! I'm so close...damn it!_ " Konpyu lamented to himself. As Yokunai's right hand man repeatedly barked orders, Isamu lunged for him. She ensured the gun was pointed away from Konpyu, positioning herself so the assistant was a meat shield, preventing the lone guard from doing anything about the situation. "Isamu!"

"Keep going, Konpyu! You're nearly there! I believe in you!" Isamu assured, blushing once more.

"Isamu...you're right," Konpyu nodded. "I'm so close...I can't let these bastards get in the way. I'll do it! For the game, for the players and most of all...for all of you guys!" The cowering employees smiled at this, renewing their faith in their CEO and their hope for life.

Konpyu clicked on "Change role holder…", opening a slim window with a single scrollable list of player names. He thought he'd have to rush this part of the plan considerably, but with Isamu's intervention, he could actually take some time to think about who to make the Administrator for the time being.

One player came to mind.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _8:21 AM - In-game Time_

Kyohan had failed. She had been forced onto the bed. Yokunai had her pinned down, with no way of escape. It was about to happen again. The very horror she felt during the first instance was coming back to her. She was vulnerable. Yokunai knew this and was about to take advantage.

She did her best, considering the situation. The 'game' dragged on for a few minutes, hopefully being the time Konpyu needed to fix everything. But on her part, she failed. She could do nothing else, except receive.

Receive an important message. A small rumble shot through her body three consecutive times, informing her that she had indeed received a private message. Yokunai was confused, to say the least.

"Huh? Who the hell...aren't they all busy at the arena? It doesn't matter. I've got you right where I want ya…" Yokunai grinned further.

"Please let me answer this!" Kyohan cried out. She fumbled for a second. "Uh, I...I'll do something for you. Anything you want! Just let me answer it. Please."

"Damn it, I can't say no to that pretty face of yours...alright. Go ahead," Yokunai accepted, sealing his fate in the process.

Kyohan nodded, relieved she wouldn't have to go through the ordeal for at least a few more minutes. She removed herself from the bed and faced towards it, making sure Yokunai wouldn't be able to see what's going on. Kyohan quickly opened her messages, finding one from Konpyu.

" _Does this mean…_ " Kyohan began to theorise. She opened the message and read it to herself. " _its done. your the admin now. use your permissions by thinking about what you want. itll happen. dont have time to explain more. i need you to finish it._ "

Yokunai was already getting irritated. "Are you done yet?"

The green-haired leader of the Masayoshi Hanta closed her gasp, drooped her head and raised it after a few seconds, revealing a smug grin. Unsettled, Yokunai had to ask.

"What the hell?"

Kyohan stepped forward, towering over the infiltrator that laid on the bed. Her grin evolved into a creepy smile.

"Is this how you do it now? You really have changed, my…"

"Shut up," Kyohan interrupted. "Just shut the hell up."

"What? How dare you tell me to do something! You've got some nerve, my dear. Stressed?"

"I'm not your dear." She thought about the brief instructions that Konpyu gave her. With a single thought, Yokunai was inflicted with paralysis, keeping him in place.

Yokunai was scared. "W-what? You...you paralysed me? How did you do that...I'm an Immortal Object! I can't be paralysed! What did you do?"

"I stalled you, that's what. I stalled you for time while Konpyu changed around a few things. You've been fooled, Yokunai."

Speechless and immobile, Yokunai only gasped in fear.

"It's over," Kyohan carried on. "I'm the Admin now. You're just a part of the same group of people that you've terrorised and threatened the lives of. Nothing. That's what you are. Nothing."

Yokunai was still at a loss for words.

"Here's your comeuppance."

Kyohan and Yokunai warped far away from the bedroom.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _8:24 AM - In-game Time_

Every single one of the players found themselves consumed with shock. Kyohan had returned with a half naked person, the latter of the two in a sideways lying position. Lapis Pugna Online's players stared at the two.

"Players! Konpyu and I have been devising a plan to turn the tables on King, or Yokunai. We have succeeded and I now have the same control King once had over the game. I shall grant you all your freedom," Kyohan announced. She stood still and demanded the game to make the log-out function available again for all regular players. "You can log out now!"

Some checked to see if this was the case and sure enough, the logout button was at the bottom of the menu, as it should. One player informed everyone else about this, with a large majority of the players signing off. Save for three. Kyohan made sure to terminate the weird 'purgatory' Yokunai created and forcefully log out the players stuck in there.

As for the three players that remained, they were allowed to roam out into the arena because Kyohan removed all of the bars once everyone else logged off. When it became clearer who the three were, Kyohan smiled.

"Hey there, guys," the green-haired leader greeted her guildmates.

"Kyohan...you did this?" Naohiro asked in confusion. "You really saved us all?"

"No, it was not only her. She had assistance from Konpyu Odayakana, the CEO of Big Dreamers," Senya corrected.

"I don't give a damn how or who did what! I'm just glad it was done!" Jonetsu exclaimed in celebration. She hugged Kyohan in her euphoria. "I'm also glad you're safe."

"Thanks, Jonetsu," Kyohan happily returned the hug. Once it subsided a few seconds later, questions were asked.

Senya was first. "Did he touch you in an inappropriate manner?"

"Almost...I tried to stall him as much as I could. Not sure what took Konpyu so long, but I don't really care. I'm just happy he was able to change control to me," was Kyohan's answer.

Naohiro followed. "What about him?" He pointed at Yokunai. "I'm guessing that's King."

"Yeah, that's him. The creep even almost went fully naked...I was so scared. That's all in the past now. You guys, you should be logging off now. Tell the police what's happened, tell them to go to Big Dreamers immediately. Konpyu could use the help," Kyohan commanded.

"Yes, miss!" Jonetsu comically responded. The three members of Masayoshi Hanta logged off, leaving Kyohan alone with Yokunai.

After staring at him for some time, Kyohan started to laugh.

"I hate you. Every single piece of you," she taunted. "Do you feel the pain yet?"

Yokunai cried out in pain.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _10:29 AM - Real World Time_

Back in real world Japan, police forces arrived at the Big Dreamers HQ. A small army of armed officers marched into the building, following the sound of gunshots and shouting. The lead officer led the charge, everyone being confused by the broken down door. Guns at the ready, the officers entered the room.

"Freeze! Put all of your hands in the air!" the lead officer demanded. Everyone did as they were instructed, even the developers. Some officers surrounded the guards while others led the developers out of the room. Isamu was relieved of her place and Konpyu was ushered out of his hiding spot underneath his desk.

"Police...I'm assuming our players alerted you to our situation," Konpyu guessed, meeting the lead officer.

"We just received a whole bunch of calls telling us about this place. It seems we got here just in time," the officer answered. Yokunai's mercenaries were being detained and led back into the outside cars. "Where's the person responsible?"

"He's in the room next door, to the left as you're looking at this room," Konpyu responded. "He's in an AmuSphere 2.0. I'll get him out for you." He went back to his desk as some officers started to clean up the battlefield. Konpyu messaged Kyohan once more, with correct grammar this time, asking for the forced logout of King.

As the lead officer and two other men entered the AmuSphere room, Yokunai was returning to reality. Instantaneously after he took off the Amusphere, Yokunai found himself detained by police he was unprepared for.

"Yokunai Juusan. You are being arrested for breaking and entering, terrorising citizens and unlawful use of combustion weapons. Anything to say in return?" the lead officer asked.

"..." Nothing came from the man's mouth. He was completely dejected.

"You're coming with us," the lead officer commanded. Apprehended, Yokunai was brought to a police car. His infiltration was over.

Konpyu sat in the haunted development room, peacefully. Of course he would need to explain things to the court, but for now, his game had been saved and his workers made it through without any casualties. There would be lots of work to correct the wrongs Yokunai made. That didn't matter. What mattered to him was that he was no longer under the freak's control. He could live in peace once again.

 _March 31st 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _8:32 AM - In-game Time_

Meanwhile, Kyohan wept. She wept and wept. One final cry before going back to her reality.


	25. Yokunai's Exfiltration

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, in any way, shape or form. Reki Kawahara wrote the original light novels, while A-1 Pictures produced the anime series. I do not claim to own it at all._

 _Claimer: However, I do own any original characters seen in this story._

* * *

A young, black haired man in a black jacket wearing black jeans happily approached the Salon De Café restaurant. He is a skinny eighteen year old boy, one would assume. However, his past experiences have grown him into a person far beyond an average teenager.

He was among one of the many players who survived the Sword Art Online incident. The one where ten thousand players were trapped, all by the hands of one Akihiko Kayaba. This teenager is one of the six thousand that lived to tell the tale.

But that's all in the past for him. He lives a happy life, playing other Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online games. He frequents ALfheim Online, a game developed a year after the SAO incident was resolved, along with his friends. Together they do quests, locate items and generally do things together. This teen is happy with his life.

Yet, he wasn't too happy to receive a call from an accomplice who works for the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Telecommunications Bureau. Something had happened regarding a VRMMO, something that required the teenager's attention. To any, this situation where a government official contacts a seemingly normal eighteen year old would appear to be peculiar.

This is normal for the teen. Actually, this exact restaurant and time were the same conditions of their previous meeting. For the teenager, this meant something dangerous in the VRMMO industry had reared its ugly head in. It's only the third dangerous virtual conflict he's had to deal with.

Almost like a magnet.

The teen entered Salon De Cafè and met with the female receptionist.

"Hello, sir. Do you have any reservations set?" the teen was asked.

"There should be one under Kikuoka Seijirou," was the young man's answer.

One quick check on the receptionist's computer revealed that there was indeed a reservation under that name. The teen was pleased; if Kikuoka hadn't sorted one out by now, there'd be some issues. Luckily, there were none.

"Feel free to go in," the receptionist instructed.

With this, the teen freely entered the dining area of the restaurant. It only took some seconds for him to locate the man he was supposed to meet, the same man who sorted out the reservation. The teen sat down on the chair belonging to the table Kikuoka was already at - a window table.

"How was the trip over here?" Kikuoka started, keeping his glasses in place.

"It was good. Nothing special happened," the teen simply replied. "I'm sure you didn't come all the way here just to ask about my public transport usage. What's going on this time?"

"Straight to the point, I see. No point in wasting time," Kikuoka commented. "Anyway, there's this game called Lapis Pugna Online. Heard of it?"

"Once or twice. I read that a lot of its concepts are based on an old browser game from the 2000s,' the teen remembered, knowledgeable on VRMMOs.

"Figured you'd know something like that. Two weeks ago, the game was under control by a madman named Yokunai Juusan. He had infiltrated the developers' HQ with a number of armed guards, demanded total administrative control of the game and placed all of its players under a death game-like situation where they couldn't log out."

"What?! There are still people willing to do that kind of thing?"

"Indeed," Kikuoka nodded. "But it was fixed soon after the log out button was removed. It turned out that Yokunai had infiltrated Big Dreamers, the developers, some time before removing the players' freedom. Thanks to the wise thinking of the CEO, Konpyu Odayakana and the courage of one of the players, Kyohan Ainara, Yokunai was brought down."

The teen took all of this information in. "Alright, but I'm not sure exactly why you're telling me this if it's already been resolved."

"I need you to enter Lapis Pugna, find this Kyohan person and learn more about the incident. I need to file a detailed report," Kikuoka placed a copy of the game on the table.

"Can't you do it?"

"Nope, I'm too busy with work and other things. I need you to do it," Kikuoka shook his head. "Kirigaya Kazuto."

The teen, whose name had now been revealed, sighed. He folded his arms and began to think.

"Fine, I'll do it. Asuna and everyone else will give me a hard time for switching games again, but they'll understand once I tell them," Kazuto accepted. He took the copy of Lapis Pugna Online and put it into a pocket.

Later that day, once Kazuto returned home after enjoying a nice meal and having to endure some initially disapproving words from his girlfriend, he inserted the Lapis Pugna cartridge into his AmuSphere 2.0.

"Link Start!"

 _April 14th 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _4:31 PM - In-game Time_

Past the very familiar FullDive bootup animation, Kazuto was presented with a choice he was expecting to get. Since he used his current AmuSphere to play ALfheim with a previously created account, the information for said account was stored on the device. Thus, the bootup sequence detected it and came up with the option to create a copy of it, then to transfer the duplicate to Lapis Pugna.

Kazuto accepted. As a result, he discovered he'd be skipping the tutorial, with explanations of the game's mechanics given to him in the Hints section of the menu. More of the animation played out - those multi-coloured beams passed by.

Eventually, Kirito found himself in a town with stone-paved paths and brick/wood buildings. He was standing next to a fountain, assumedly in the middle of the settlement. He checked his menu.

" _Incipien...this must be the starting town,_ " Kirito thought as he gathered himself. " _Seijirou wanted me to find someone called Kyohan. Looks like I've got to ask around._ '

Before he started to do so, Kirito had a quick look at his stats, finding they had been copied over from ALfheim but changed slightly to fit this game's system. He was still a strong speedster. Kirito also discovered he had a level: 105. The SAO survivor remembered the unbalanced nature of the level-based system, it being the main reason why ALfheim did not have one. He would have to get used to it again.

Kirito now merely wanted to get on with proceedings. After all, he wasn't going to be doing any major fighting here. For that reason, Kirito began to ask random players about someone named Kyohan. It didn't take long for a guild named 'Masayoshi Hanta' to be mentioned.

Upon further investigation, the Masayoshi Hanta is a player made guild that Kyohan (turns out it is her avatar's name) leads. Their sole purpose is to maintain the peaceful community of the game. They fight against any wrongs, including the likes of the Grey Knights who had control over certain accounts before being disbanded by the Masayoshi Hanta. While all this information would be useful for Seijirou's report, Kirito still didn't know where to find the guild.

He learnt, from the next person, that the Masayoshi Hanta had their own base of operations which was made with the 'create your own House' feature located next to the town of Vicus. In order to get into that base, he'd need access permissions from a member of the guild. This was where Kirito hit a snag.

"Want some help?" a messy, orange haired player asked Kirito. He had just finished learning about Lapis Pugna's house feature when this stranger approached him.

"Are you a member of the Masayoshi Hanta?" Kirito asked the player, who smirked at the question.

"Nope, but I'm a friend of their tactician. That makes me an honorary member," the player grinned. "I've got permissions to their base. Sorry, couldn't help but overhear there."

Kirito narrowed his eyes momentarily. The stranger didn't seem to notice the gesture. "Got it. Can you help me out here? I need to ask their leader a few questions."

"A few questions? Or one, romantic, question? If I were you, I wouldn't bother with that. Remember what happened two weeks ago?"

"Uh, no. I only just started the game. But I transferred my account from another. I'm here to help with a government report on Yokunai's infiltration against Big Dreamers. I've been instructed to ask Kyohan about it."

"Huh. Well, that clears things up. My name's Hitakaru. What about yours, fella?"

"Kirito."

Hitakaru paused. His expression turned from relaxed to surprised. "Y-you're THAT Kirito? The same guy who saved Sword Art Online's players?!"

"Yeah...honestly, it's not a big deal. I do feel great about saving all those lives, but it happened a while ago. I guess I'm over it."

"I see what you mean. After all, having a feeling like that can be a little draining. I think you'll like my friend. He said something about wanting to be as good as you."

"Really?" Kirito was actually curious.

"It was a while ago, but he did say it. We were talkin' about you at school - how you've been going across different games. I remember calling you a game-hopper."

An embarrassed giggle came from the game-hopper. "Oh, I've had my reasons for that. Sorry to rush you, Hitakaru, but could you get me to that guild? I promised my friends I'd be back in ALfhiem as soon as possible."

"Sure thing, Kirito."

With that, Hitakaru equipped himself with a spellbook and began to draw a circle around himself and Kirito. The only one of the two not familiar with Lapis Pugna found himself more confused as he and Hitakaru warped away from Incipien.

 _April 14th 2026 - Lapis Pugna Online_

 _4:44 PM - In-game Time_

Hitakaru and Kirito were now at Vicus, evidenced by the large amount of quartz buildings. They were on a large, square platform with a rune inscription - the town's teleport pad. Hitakaru explained each town had one of these. Different spells allowed you to warp directly to them as a form of fast travel, but you need to have the right level of Magic as well as the correct number of runes. Kirito took all of this in.

The player wearing the Steel Armour led the one wearing the one-tier-lower Iron Armour to the town's north entrance, where some others were entering and exiting from a circular purple portal. Hitakaru presented it with his left hand.

"And this thing is the portal that'll bring you to your House," the orange haired one started, speaking as if he was continuing an explanation. "In this case, their House. Lemme just get the settings for a mo'..."

Following a minute or two, Kirito received a notification telling him that he had the permission to enter the 'Masayoshi Hanta HQ'.

"There ya go. Whenever someone has permissions for a House, they can do the same thing for anyone else. That means you gotta pick someone trustworthy."

"You think I can be trusted?" Kirito joked.

"Considering what you've done, you're especially trustworthy."

Kirito followed Hitakaru to the NPC next to the portal, where the latter of the pair began talking with said non-player character. Meanwhile, the former noticed that although Hitakaru's and the NPC's mouths were moving, he could not hear anything they were saying. It took only a couple minutes for things be sorted out. The duo entered the portal at Hitakaru's instruction, instantly finding themselves in a circular piece of grassy land.

All around were flowers of different varieties. Tall mountains prevented anyone from leaving the area, which was about as large as nine soccer fields placed next to each other in a grid-like formation. Kirito took note of this as he and Hitakaru walked up to the three storey wooden structure in the middle of it all. No colourful sign, no automated machine, nothing of the sort. It just looked like a cabin. Strange for a highly renowned guild headquarters, thought Kirito.

Hitakaru pressed the doorbell. Seconds later, a grey haired player wearing a full set of the dark green, unusually patterned, Reinforced Snake armour, answered the ring.

"Oh, Hitakaru? What's up?" the player wondered aloud.

"Not much, Naohiro. Is Kyohan around?" Hitakaru replied. "I've got someone here that needs to ask her some stuff."

Naohiro, who Kirito presumed to be an archer due to the quiver that was on his back, took a detailed glance at the person who wished to speak with his guild's leader. "What do you need from her?" was his question.

"It's government business. I've been asked by someone from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to find out more about Yokunai's infiltration," Kirito explained. "Feel free to join us if you're uncertain."

"Hmm…I think I'll do just that. Come on in, you two," Naohiro accepted with a certain degree of skepticism. Hitakaru and Kirito stepped inside the abode. When they did, Naohiro began to make use of the game's messaging system. Nobody else could see exactly what he was doing, of course.

Like the teleportation loading times, the recipient of the archer's private message came down the stairs at a moderate pace. She partly reminded Kirito of Asuna, but he quickly discarded any further thoughts regarding that comparison.

"Alright, what's happening now? I was just about to have a little nap…" the female complained. She spoke with a more authoritative tone than Asuna while her avatar's hair was green, contrasting his companion's choice of blue. They were of similar height and size, though this person appeared to be slightly taller. "Huh? Hitakaru? Why are you here?"

Hitakaru merely pointed to Kirito. "That guy. He needs to know stuff. Didn't you read Naohiro's PM?"

"I did...I'm tired," the female answered with a yawn. He turned her attention to Kirito. "Who're you?"

"My name is Kirito."

Whilst the other two widened their eyes and audibly reacted with an 'oh', Hitakaru grinned at observing their reactions. Alike his initial encounter with the aforementioned player, Kirito was embarrassed somewhat.

"You're really him?" the long, green haired one questioned, slightly doubtful.

"I am. Although I don't like to admit it, I am Kirito."

Naohiro grinned. "Looks like we have a celebrity in our midst."

"Come on. I'm not a celebrity. The public don't constantly ask me questions or anything, it's just that blog one my friends made without me knowing. Most people don't even believe it," Kirito staunchly refuted. "Sure, the incident is famous, but my name isn't. And I'm glad."

"Don't want to be famous?" Hitakaru asked.

"I'd rather not be hounded by everyone ever. Anyway, can we just get to talking about Yokunai and what he did?" He looked at the green-haired player.

"Sure. I'll have to let the rest of my guild join, okay? I'm Kyohan, by the way," she revealed.

"Not a problem," allowed Kirito. He felt that they were going to join no matter what.

"Good," Kyohan smiled, then turned to Naohiro. "Get Senya and Jonetsu down, please. Tell them to meet us in the dining room."

"Will do, madam," Naohiro jokingly replied. He began to message the remaining two members of the guild while Kyohan led Kirito and Hitakaru into the wide room, past the double doors, at the end of the initial room.

Kyohan sat on the distant side of the twenty seater dining table, while Kirito sat in the chair directly opposite hers. Hitakaru chose the one next to Kirito. Later, Naohiro entered and sat two seats away from the right of the guild leader while a black haired player wearing dark blue Mithril armour chose to sit in between the prior duo. A dark red haired female equipped with similarly coloured mage robes sat to the left of Kyohan.

The meeting started.

"Glad you could join us, Senya," Kyohan commented as the black haired player sat down. She did the same for the dark red haired avatar. "You too, Jonetsu."

Kirito ensured to remember their names, lest a slip up occur. Jonetsu was the first to make a comment. "So this is that Kirito guy? Little unimpressive if ya ask me."

"Excuse me?" Kirito asked, slightly annoyed at her words.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, you look like a decent guy. Just that I expected a huge bulkin' dude. Nothin' against ya," Jonetsu calmed his irritation. "What about you, Senya? What's your take?"

"My take…" Senya merely responded. He did not seem to be rather social, at least to those he was not comfortable with. "Is that appearances have little value over actions."

The SAO survivor didn't know what to say to this, so he didn't respond. Kyohan clapped her hands, getting everyone's attention.

"Hey, let's not waste any more time. I'm sure Kirito's friends don't want to be kept waiting," Kyohan hurried. "So what do you want to know, exactly?"

"I just want to hear it all from your perspective. What was it like when Yokunai started changing things?" Kirito began to interrogate.

"It started out with new features bein' added. House was one of 'em, but it wasn't ready at that point, which ended up causin' a glitch that allowed players - who were affected by it - to kill others in safe zones," Jonetsu explained. "Then there was that axe that could kill anythin' in one blow, which I think was taken out of the game shortly after."

Kirito nodded. The glitched feature reminded him of a similar happening from Sword Art Online. He then nodded as to signal he was ready for more information.

"After all that, Yokunai showed himself under the guise of an avatar named King. He had total control over the game, which he abused to high hell. Yokunai made an entire arena so random players could battle in there for his enjoyment and whoever lost was sent to this 'purgatory' of sorts," Naohiro continued.

Hitakaru shuddered at that reminder. "It was pretty creepy. Total pitch blackness...we could see each other there, but only barely. Boy am I glad I didn't send you there, Senya."

The enigmatic tactician lightly nodded.

"Since Yokunai had god-like control, there was no conventional way out. That's when Konpyu, the CEO of Big Dreamers, came up with a plan," Kyohan inaudibly gulped. "I have...a certain history with Yokunai. A brutally romantic one, if you get what I mean."

At first, Kirito didn't know what she meant. The eyebrow raise helped with that.

"Konpyu believed I could distract Yokunai long enough for him to change everything back to the way it was. You can tell that it worked out in the end," Kyohan broke the short pause. "And that actually sums it up pretty nicely."

"Let me get this straight...he intervened with a planned update, forced an unbalanced one out soon after that and basically held everyone captive until Konpyu and Kyohan initiated their plan," Kirito concisely summarised.

Excluding Senya, the members of the Masayoshi Hanta all mumbled a 'yeah', with Hitakaru joining in. Kirito stood up after a pause that was full of thought.

"I think I've got all that my friend needs for his report. Thank you all for helping. I'll leave your base before I log out," Kirito thanked his newfound accomplices. "Y'know, it'd be great to see you guys in ALfheim sometime. Maybe we all can have a get together or something."

"You mean like a party?" Kyohan asked, both in a joking and a serious manner that earned a smirk from Naohiro and Jonetsu.

"Sure, yeah," Kirito agreed. Admittedly, he found her joke to be somewhat funny. "See you all later."

The Black Swordsman walked to the dining room's doors and was inches away from touching the handle, when Senya reminded him of something important.

"Be certain to set us as your friends. When we are ready for our gathering, it would be wise to have direct contact with us. You need not go through others to arrive at our guild," Senya interjected.

"Oh right," realised Kirito, sweat dropping. "Good idea. Let's be friends."

From there, the black haired sword user added the members of the Masayoshi Hanta to his friend list, not forgetting Hitakaru. He then departed from the game, leaving the guild folks to reflect on their achievements thus far.

They have bested the Grey Knights, overcome personal boundaries and defeated Yokunai Juusan's revenge. Would life throw more challenges at them? Certainly. That is how life works. You never stop receiving challenges. The Masayoshi Hanta awaited their further trials.

* * *

 _ **Author Notes:**_ **So marks the end of Lapis Pugna Online. Thank you all for reading! Please favourite, like, review and share this story. Could do with more of that. But thank you to the few people that actually read this, I'm not ungrateful. Quite the opposite.**

 **I'll still be writing Luster the Cat, so read that if you're a Sonic fan at all. If you're not, then I hope you'll be there to read whatever else I release. See ya!**


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